Des Moines Voters Choose Boesen, Mandelbaum For City Council

DES MOINES, IA — Voters selected Josh Mandelbaum as the next City Council member to represent Ward 3 in a three-way race in which candidates spent about $300,000 to reach out to voters. The ward encompasses southwestern Des Moines and the downtown area.

In the citywide at-large race, voters elected former Des Moines School Board member Connie Boesen over incumbent Skip Moore, the retired municipal arborist who has served two terms on the council.

According to unofficial election results from the Polk County Election Office, Boesen received 54 percent of the vote to Moore's 45 percent, or 8,827 votes to 7,283.

Boesen, 66, served 14 years on the school board before deciding to shift gears and make her first run at city office. She said during her campaign that she will make sure the city’s basic services, housing and transportation are available to everyone and that the wave of revitalization that has taken place downtown extends into neighborhoods.

Boesen and Moore, both east-side residents, had raised about $75,000 collectively to campaign as a citywide representative, according to the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board. By comparison, the race in Ward 3, which includes southwest and downtown Des Moines, drew about half the number of voters as the at-large race, yet two of the three candidates, Mandelbaum and former city councilman Michael Kiernan, collectively raised $300,000. Candidate Abshir Omar Mahamed did not file a financial report.

Mandelbaum received 4,446 votes, 0r 56 percent, of the ward's vote total in the race, according to the election office. Kiernan receive 2.719 votes (34 percent) and Mahamed received 720 (9 percent).

Mandelbaum, 38, served as a policy adviser to former Gov. Tom Vilsack and currently works for the Environmental Law and Policy Center. He collected numerous endorsements from local unions during his campaigning, including the Central Iowa Building and Construction Trades Council, Laborers Local 177, Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 33, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 347 and AFSCME Council 61, which represents Des Moines Water Works employees.

Bill Gray, an incumbent councilman in Ward 1, was re-elected after running unopposed.

Election 2017: Patch graphic