[2] Barbara Finch served on a number of agricultural commissions, including the Story County Farm Bureau, Story County Cattleman's Association, and the Governor's Task Force for Sustainable Agriculture, as well as the Ballard School Board.
[2] She was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives in 2000, as a Republican, succeeding Dennis Parmenter as the legislator from District 62.
Finch contested the Iowa Senate's 23rd District seat in 2002, losing the general election to Herman Quirmbach.
[3][4] After leaving the state legislature, Finch worked for Mary Greeley Medical Center.
She and her daughter were traveling on Interstate 35 in Freeborn County, Minnesota, near Albert Lea, when their van collided with a pickup that had slid into oncoming traffic.