Write-in candidate Hughes wins Brighton special election

BRIGHTON — Write-in candidate Scott Hughes appeared to edge out a win in a special election to the Brighton City Council Tuesday night, in a 59-57 tally according to unofficial results released by the Washington County Auditor’s Office.

Hughes, a former council member and mayor, ran against Cathy Rich, who lost a re-election bid in 2023 but was reappointed to the municipal decision-making body after Dave McArtor resigned and moved out of town. When the city moved to hold an election for the remainder of the term, county officials said Hughes’ candidacy paperwork was not properly submitted, leaving the former council member and mayor’s name off the ballot Tuesday night.

The race heated up when Hughes got an endorsement from the city’s fire department, which has repeatedly sparred with Rich over its funding in the last several years while the city grappled with shrinking tax revenue.

“For at least 45 years, the fire department and the city council worked hand in hand to provide the city and its residents with the best fire protection possible. Since Cathy Rich became a councilperson, that has changed,” said a flyer shared on the department’s Facebook page. “Your volunteers who totally work for free don’t feel they can work for/with Ms. Rich. For that reason, we’d like to see a more logical, reasonable minded individual elected.”

A dispute over the firefighters’ funding went public in 2022, and continued to sew distrust between city officials and department volunteers, who threatened to stop answering service calls in the city or quit en masse several times until a compromise was struck and a fire advisory board was established in 2023.

Rich served as the council’s liaison to that advisory board where she asked numerous questions about the department’s budget and resources, often to the frustration of firefighters in the room.

Rich could not be reached for comments Wednesday morning. The Union was unable to find contact information for Hughes: county election officials said they had not received a phone number from him, which would normally accompany candidacy paperwork.

While the results are unofficial, Washington County Auditor Dan Widmer said he expected a slightly greater margin of victory for Hughes once the votes are canvassed by County Supervisors. That’s because several of the five write-in votes listed as “scattering” on unofficial results appeared to be misspellings of the candidate’s name.

“It comes down to the intent of the voter, and I think in this case the intent of those voters is very clear,” he said. “Their intention was to vote for Scott Hughes, with an ‘e’ in his name.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com