Candidate lists released for coming Washington County school, city elections

WASHINGTON — A list of candidates released by the Washington County Auditor’s Office on Wednesday gave details on who’s filed in every local race. While write-in campaigns are possible, and have come close to success in recent memory, those who filed before the statewide due date to put a name on the ballot gives a good idea of who to look for this election season.

Five candidates are vying for four seats on the Mid-Prairie school board in upcoming school elections on Tuesday, Nov. 7, with every other district in Washington County showing one candidate on the ballot per open position. City elections are a different story, with council races contested in half of the county’s eight municipalities.

Schools

Running for Mid-Prairie’s school board are incumbents Mary Allred and Denise Chittick, joined by new candidates Ryan Schlabaugh, Randy Billups and Jim Miller. The district’s seats are all at-large positions, meaning only the top four vote-winners from the list of five will win a spot on the educational decision-making body.

Washington’s school board race has just one incumbent, current Board President Troy Suchan, for District #3. Also on the ballot will be Kara Williams for District #1, Diana Rich for District #4, and Brendan DeLong for the at-large position. None are running against opposition, barring a write-in campaign.

At Highland, Dan Ruth is back in the running for the District #4 spot on the school board. Nate Robinson, the current board president and at-large director, is running again as well, but his name on the county’s record shows him running to fill the District #5 vacancy, a term that would end in 2025. Ainsworth resident John O’Leary is running for District #2.

Incumbent Lorraine Williams is the only candidate running for the Kirkwood Community College Board of Trustees District 4. It’s the only region represented on that body that includes Washington County.

Cities

Four cities are lined up for single-candidate races across the board this November. In Ainsworth, current council members Dave Roberts and Ronald Greiner are the only names on the ballot. Crawfordsville Council Member Eric Davis is running for re-election as well, while Roy Felts seeks the other seat open seat in that race. In a similar scenario to its last election in 2021, West Chester has just three candidates (all incumbents) registered to run for the five-person council.

In Washington, Mayor Pro Tem and at-large Council Member Millie Youngquist is set to run unopposed, as is Third Ward Council Member Illa Earnest. Patrick Morgan offers a new name to the people of Ward One, running unopposed for the neighborhood which has struggled to keep candidates for full terms in recent years.

Also uncontested are the mayoral races on this year’s ballot. That means Allen Schneider (Riverside,) Mark Robe (Kalona,) and Vanessa Wasson (West Chester) are likely to hold onto their offices for another term, absent major surprises.

Brighton and Wellman seem likely to hold the most contentious elections of the year, with six candidates vying for just three seats in each city. Both have at-large positions only on their councils, with four-year terms.

In Brighton, the list includes incumbents Mary Smith and Cathy Rich, but not Paul Shelangoski, whose term expires after this year. Also in the race are newcomers Dick Green, Andrew Boone, David Pratt, and Chuck Emry, who is a former Council Member.

For Wellman, incumbent council members Aaron Fleming and Angela Stutzman will square off with contenders Stephen Wagnor, Nathan Klostermann, Douglas Oldfield, and Derek Michael Gorsch.

In Kalona, voters will pick two council candidates from a list of three, their options being Jenelle Bender and Gregory Schmidt, who are incumbents, and David Bentley, who is not.

Riverside’s race has three open seats, and all three incumbents — Kevin Kiene, Edgar McGuire and Lois Schneider — are in running to keep holding them. A fourth candidate in that race looks to challenge their campaigns: Riverside resident Ryan Rogerson.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com