Six candidates will vie for three seats on Iowa City’s governing board in the upcoming election.
Three incumbents and three challengers will appear on Iowa City ballots on Tuesday, Nov. 4. Four candidates are running for two at-large seats, while the other two face off in District B.
All Iowa City residents can select the at-large and District B representatives, regardless of where they live within the city.
Each of the six candidates met the Aug. 28 filing deadline.
Iowa City has an earlier filing deadline than other local cities because primary elections are possible, though an October primary election will not be necessary in 2025.
Candidates are listed below in alphabetical order:
Who is running for Iowa City’s at-large council seats?
Two “At-Large” seats are open, as the terms for Iowa City mayor, Bruce Teague, and councilor Megan Alter are expiring. Challengers Clara Reynen and Newman Abuissa are vying for a spot on the council.
Abuissa ran for a seat in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, which included Johnson County at the time, in early 2020 before suspending his campaign. The Syrian-American works as a traffic engineer for the Iowa Department of Transportation and has often attended pro-Palestinian protests around Iowa City.
Alter is seeking a second term on the city council after first being elected in 2021. In a release, she said she wanted to continue to build on her priorities from her first term, including finding “bold and strategic advances” for affordable housing in the area, improving local child care and “revitalizing” the east side of town, especially the Iowa City Marketplace area.
Reynen just entered her final year as a University of Iowa graduate student and is “an artist, librarian and community organizer,” according to her campaign website. Her campaign site says she is guided by a librarian’s core values, which include access, equity, intellectual freedom and privacy and the public good. She is also a member of the UI Campaign to Organize Graduate Students, or COGS.
Teague was first elected to the city council through a special election in 2018. He was then appointed mayor by his fellow councilmembers in 2020 and has remained in that position. Teague is the founder of Caring Hands & More in Iowa City and is the city’s second Black mayor and first openly gay mayor.
Who is running for Iowa City’s District B council seats?
The Iowa City City Council also features three “district” seats covering specific sections of the city, designated as Districts A, B, and C. Candidates must reside in the specific district they run in. The District B seat covers the east side of town.
Incumbent Shawn Harmsen and challenger Amy Hospadarsky will compete for this seat.
Harmsen is seeking a second term after running unopposed to fill long-time councilor Susan Mims’ seat in 2021. He holds a Ph.D. in journalism and mass communication from the University of Iowa and is a professor at Coe College in Cedar Rapids. He describes himself as a “local activist” on his website and has helped several local campaigns, including the first election campaign for his council colleague, Mazahir Salih.
Hospadarsky is a “nonprofit leader, small business owner, single mom and long-time community builder” who is seeking political office for the first time, according to her website. She serves as the director of Crowded Closet, the nonprofit thrift store in the city’s South District. She served in “senior leadership” with the New Pioneer Co-Op, was previously the chair of the Englert Theatre and has experience on the boards of the Johnson County Affordable Housing Coalition and at CommUnity Crisis Services.
Though candidates are required to live in District B, Iowa CIty voters, regardless of the district they live in, can vote for a District B candidate.
How does Iowa City elect its mayor?
The nearby Johnson County communities of Coralville and North Liberty select their mayors via a residential vote. The mayors serve a non-voting position on the council under each city’s system of governance.
In Iowa City, city councilors appoint a mayor every two years under Iowa City’s charter, the governing document of the city.
Iowa City’s mayor does have voting capabilities.
That process will remain the same when the council assembles in 2026, as the city’s Charter Review Commission, which meets once each decade and met in 2024, did not decide to change the process.
Ryan Hansen covers local government and crime for the Press-Citizen. He can be reached at rhansen@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ryanhansen01.
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Six candidates fight for 3 open seats. Who’s running for the Iowa City City Council?
Reporting by Ryan Hansen, Iowa City Press-Citizen / Iowa City Press-Citizen
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