Cedar Rapids mayor election heading to runoff: Amara Andrews, Tiffany O'Donnell defeat Brad Hart

CEDAR RAPIDS — It’s time for a change in leadership of Iowa’s second-largest city, Cedar Rapids voters decided Tuesday, narrowing a four-way race for mayor to Amara Andrews and Tiffany O’Donnell, who outright defeated incumbent Brad Hart to head to a Nov. 30 runoff election.

No candidates reached the necessary 50 percent of the vote, so the top two vote-getters — TrueNorth employee Andrews and Women Lead Change Chief Executive Officer O’Donnell — have less than a month to vie for the city’s top elected role. O’Donnell emerged with over 40 percent of the vote — 10,991 total — while Andrews edged out Hart by a 24-vote margin to finish second with 7,332 votes, according to unofficial results.

Quaker Oats employee Myra Colby Bradwell, formerly known as Gregory Hughes, finished last in the race for mayor with 411 votes.

If elected, Andrews would be the city’s first Black mayor and the first Black woman on the nine-member Cedar Rapids City Council. She has campaigned as a progressive Democrat in a field of registered Republicans, who have bristled at partisanship influencing the race and maintained that there is no place for party politics in City Hall.

Read more: https://www.thegazette.com/campaigns-elections/cedar-rapids-mayor-election-heading-to-runoff-amara-andrews-tiffany-odonnell-defeat-brad-hart/
(Cedar Rapids Gazette)