Tuesday night election results spelled out historical wins for some candidates, while other historical decisions left up to voters, like the state's largest school bond to date, fizzled out on the 2023 ballot. Here are the results of several major races around the state:
Boesen was named Des Moines’ first new mayor in two decades
For the first time in the city’s history, Des Moines' mayor will be a woman.
Connie Boesen won the race over fellow city councilmember Josh Mandelbaum and two other challengers.
She earned 48% of the vote according to the unofficial tally. Mandelbaum came in at 46% in the unofficial results, while the two other candidates, Denver Foote and Christopher Von Arx, combined for nearly 6%.
Boesen spoke to supporters at Chuck’s Restaurant in a neighborhood on the city’s north side that she said is an example of how the city can grow.
“We need to get more economic growth, as we’re seeing here with new businesses coming in,” she said. “Coming in with new ideas, fresh approaches and excitement going on.”
Boesen succeeds Frank Cownie, who ends his time as the city’s longest-serving mayor after five terms in office. A special election will be scheduled to fill Boesen’s at-large seat on the city council.
Boesen says she’s proud to put a mark on history and looks forward to working with the other council members, including Mandelbaum, to plan the city’s future.
Polk County voters overwhelmingly approved funding for a new Des Moines International Airport terminal
Around 80% of Polk County voters approved a $350 million bond issue to help fund construction of a new terminal at the Des Moines International Airport.
The county will loan the revenue from the bonds to help fund the terminal, which will increase the number of gates at the airport, as well as the capacity of the security and luggage-handling systems.
Airport officials estimate that by bonding through the county they will save $70 million on project financing.
The bonds will not impact tax rates in Polk County because they will be repaid with airport revenue.
Laudick was elected mayor of Cedar Falls
Cedar Falls’ new mayor, Danny Laudick, sees his first term as a chance to move his city forward. He’ll assume office at the start of the new year.
Laudick serves as the executive director of Red Cedar, a nonprofit geared toward developing new businesses in the Cedar Valley. He’s a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa.
At an election night event, Laudick said that his election, along with the elections of three new city councilmembers the same night, were signs that Cedar Falls is ready to take a unified step forward.
“We know there’s been a lot of politics and issues over the past six to eight years, and everyone’s ready to get back to, ‘What’s the plan? What are we working toward?’” he said. “We recognize we have a lot of trust to rebuild, but there is a sense of optimism that there’s so much we could be doing and working on.”
Laudick won 79% of the vote. Previous mayor Rob Green opted not to run for reelection.
In Linn-Mar, incumbents won big, while right-wing-supported candidates lost out
Linn-Mar Community School District incumbents Barry Buchholz and Britannia Morey won reelection Tuesday night, and so did newcomers Katie Lowe Lancaster and Justin Foss.
The three candidates endorsed by Moms for Liberty, a right-wing political organization that advocates against the discussion of LGBTQ rights or race and ethnicity in schools, lost.
Linn-Mar has been under increasing national scrutiny. Iowa’s 2nd District Rep. Ashley Hinson has children in the Linn-Mar School District and hosted an event for Kevin Slaman, one of the Moms For Liberty-endorsed candidates. The event was recorded as a $450 in-kind donation to Salman’s campaign.
Hinson and former Vice President Mike Pence have attacked the district for its gender support policy for transgender students.
In the Cedar Rapids Community School District, incumbents Cindy Garlock, David Tominsky and Jennifer Neumann all won reelection. Dexter Merschbrock was the only incumbent to get the boot. The two Mom’s for Liberty-tapped candidates lost.
A previous version of this section mischaracterized Hinson’s in-kind donation as a check to school board candidate Kevin Slaman.
A history-making school bond failed in Cedar Rapids
The Cedar Rapids Community School District’s bid to fund a new middle school and other changes withered on the vine Tuesday night. Voters in the state’s second largest school district said “no” to a $220 million bond referendum — the largest school bond in state history.
The money would have gone toward improving school buildings.
Superintendent Tawana Grover says the district’s need for new buildings did not die with the bond. She said the bond’s short campaign period was a challenge.
“I do believe that was one of our biggest hurdles: the time factor that we were working up against in order to try and get this done,” she said. “So again, we’re not discouraged tonight. We’re very encouraged.”
Grover says the defeat doesn’t eliminate the needs.
“The district will have some very tough decisions to make going forward,” she said. “We still have the same needs we brought from the beginning with this plan.”
Only 40% of district voters supported the bond — it needed 60% support to pass. With 60% against instead, no bonds will be issued and district property tax rates will remain the same.
Sioux City voters elected five people to the local school board
A majority of Sioux City voters agree that retaining teachers at the local school district is a top priority, and one of its newest school board members, Earl Miller, aims to tackle that problem in his four-year term.
“Teachers resign because they have a better environment someplace else," he said. "They'll leave for lower money but with a better work environment. So, I really think that we have to take a step back to look at our administration, certainly not the superintendent level, and figuring out what his goals are and making sure that those goals aligned down to the teacher level so we have teachers to teach students.”
Miller is the first openly gay man to win a seat on the board.
Board President Dan Greenwell, the only incumbent on the ballot who won reelection to a two-year term, says keeping teachers is critical, and so is helping the 20% of students who are English-language learners in the minority-majority district.
“We were, quite frankly, underserving those and the whole structure of it," he said. "We have to change.”
A diverse field of candidates ran for five open seats on the school board in Sioux City — four out of 11 were women of color — but voters only picked one woman of color, Treyla Lee, to serve on the board of the minority-majority district.
Lee says she is looking forward to continuing the legacy of her mother, Flora Lee, who was an activist and the first Black woman elected to the board in the 1990s.
“Twenty-five years ago, she was the board president of our Sioux City Community School District," Lee said. "I'm now the only female on our new school board, so I am ready to take on the challenge. I am ready to conquer. I am ready to represent women.”
Also elected to the board were Lance Ehmcke and John Meyers.
Grant Gerlock, Grant Leo Winterer, Zachary Oren Smith, Sheila Brummer and Josie Fischels contributed to this report.