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Washington Evening Journal
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Boyer defeats Flournoy in Fairfield mayoral race
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
FAIRFIELD - In the only contested race in the city of Fairfield on Tuesday, voters gave their stamp of approval on a fourth term for Mayor Connie Boyer, who defeated challenger and current Fairfield City Council member Douglas Flournoy 65 percent to 30 percent.
Boyer received 1,541 votes to Flournoy’s 714. Rhonda Sanderson was the other name on the ballot, and she received 81 votes, 3.4 percent of the total.
Upon learning the results, Boyer said she felt “truly humbled by the support and very appreciative.”
“Thank you to everyone for getting out and voting to support their candidate,” she told The Union. “I look forward to working as a team, completing many projects that are in progress and improving our fair city.”
With Flournoy’s election defeat, he will be exiting the council at the end of the year because he will have to give up his at-large seat on the council. Bob Ferguson won an uncontested race to fill Flournoy’s at-large seat during Tuesday’s elections, garnering 1,856 votes (95 percent), with 480 undervotes, meaning the voter made no selection in the race.
When reached for comment Wednesday morning, Flournoy remarked, “I called Connie last night and congratulated her on winning the election. I wish her the best in her next term as Mayor.”
Boyer was first elected Fairfield Mayor in 2019 after winning an extremely close race against then council member Michael Halley, who appeared to have won the race by one vote on Election Night. After a recount, Boyer ended up two votes ahead. Boyer then ran for reelection unopposed in 2021 and 2023.
Voters in Fairfield’s Ward 2 (north part of town) might have assumed that this seat was also contested. Incumbent Paul Gandy was up for reelection against challenger Matthew W. Johnson. However, just before the Fairfield Chamber’s Candidate Forum on Oct. 15, Johnson announced that he was withdrawing from the race. Nevertheless, he still received 64 votes (13 percent) to Gandy’s 423 (87 percent). There were 37 undervotes.
Matthew Rowe ran for his second four-year term representing Ward 4 (center of town), and received 260 votes (95 percent) with 167 undervotes.
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
