Iowa City Council appoints community activist Andrew Dunn to open at-large seat

Community activist Andrew Dunn is Iowa City's newest member of City Council.

The council on Tuesday unanimously selected the 24-year-old Dunn, who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for an Iowa House seat in 2022. He will fill the remainder of member Janice Weiner's four-year term in an at-large seat.

Weiner resigned after being elected to the Iowa Senate, which convened Tuesday in Des Moines.

Dunn, a legislative aide to Iowa state Sen. Claire Celsi, was one of seven finalists the council chose last week from 21 applicants for the post.

He immediately took his seat on the council after being sworn in and jokingly made the motion to adjourn the special meeting, eliciting laughs from the crowd. His seat will be up for election this fall along with the at-large seat held by Laura Bergus and two district seats held by John Thomas and Pauline Taylor.

Dunn said he intends to run for a full four-year term.

"Ultimately it is now my job over the next 11 months (to show) the council ... their trust in me was well-placed and the work that I want to be doing and will be doing is the work that needs to continue for our community," he said.

Following the meeting, he told the Press-Citizen he was surprised to realize he had the support of enough council members to win the appointment. He said he considers his unanimous selection by his now-colleagues a strong endorsement.

"It's a vote of confidence from members of the council that my experience and work ethic speaks for itself and my ability to do the kind of work that now-senator Weiner was doing before," he said. "I want to continue to ensure people in our community feel heard and work towards improvements that will make this the best city in America."

Diverse field of finalists vie for seat

Before deciding on Dunn, the council heard 10-minute presentations from the diverse field of finalists.

The others were Na Li, president of the Iowa City Area Chinese Association; Mary Mascher, a former longtime Iowa state representative; Sean McRoberts, director of operations and development at the Wesley Center at the University of Iowa; Joshua Moe, a local architect and business leader; Elizabeth Miglin, a UI student and former city liaison for the Undergraduate Student Government; and Mandi Remington, founder and executive director of Corridor Community Action Network.

It took three rounds of informal voting for Dunn to get the support of four of the six members: Mayor Bruce Teague, Megan Alter, Shawn Harmsen and John Thomas, who nominated Dunn. Teague initially supported Li, Harmsen backed McRoberts and Alter voted for Miglin.

After they switched to Dunn, member Laura Bergus, who supported Remington, and Pauline Taylor, who backed Mascher, joined the others for the final, formal vote.

Dunn a 'proud, pragmatic progressive'

Dunn's journey to a seat on the council follows his narrow loss in the June 2022 primary for the District 90 House seat to Adam Zabner, who went on to win the general election and joined the Legislature as it began its 2023 session Tuesday. Dunn said on Election Night that his involvement in politics was not over.

A former University of Iowa political science student, he has volunteered for local, state and federal campaigns. He also is involved in local organizations including the Center for Worker Justice, Johnson County Democrats, the Iowa City Federation of Labor and Teamsters Local 238.

Dunn's political experience includes working on President Barack Obama's 2012 reelection bid, serving on legislative advisories councils for youth, families and juvenile criminal justice reform, leading the March for Our Lives gun violence prevention movement in Iowa and working to elect U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in Georgia in 2020.

Dunn started his presentation to council by calling himself a "proud, pragmatic progressive." He said he is someone who understands the reality of the situation on the ground and will work tirelessly to get the community the best possible outcome on the issues.

He invoked former Iowa City Mayor Jim Throgmorton and his new book "Co-crafting the Just City" and said a pragmatic progressive understands the importance of ensuring the safety and prosperity of marginalized communities and poor and working families.

"We can achieve good, common-sense solutions rooted in diverse community experiences. This community centered-approach, reliant on consistent feedback from constituents, is my lodestar," Dunn said. "I don't care to be in front of a camera or in the news. ... I want to make sure the kids down my street by Mercer Park can afford to have a family and a home one day with food on the table."

Dunn was born in Ames and his family moved throughout Iowa as he was growing up. He came to Iowa City in August 2020 to attend UI. He said he took a hiatus from his studies to run his campaign for Iowa House and to hold a job but he will finish his degree in either the summer or fall after things "cool down" in the legislative session.

He said he hopes young people see themselves reflected in him and believes relatability is an important factor in building trust in government at a time when it is severely lacking.

"I'm hoping they see a young person and might feel that I'm more accessible and go out of my way to be more accessible, answer questions and bring more people to be involved with the process," said Dunn, now the council's youngest member.

He's also the council's only renter, and in his application, he said he thinks Iowa City is at a critical point in its history because of a tight housing market leading to out-of-state property management companies instituting higher rents. In addition to housing affordability, he said he wants to address issues including wage theft, social justice and improving public transportation.

Dunn said he'd like to hit the ground running. The city is in the midst of working on its fiscal year 2024 budget and will meet on Wednesday to discuss the capital projects portion.

He said his position as an aide to Celsi will give the council an up-front seat to critical issues facing local governments in the upcoming legislative session and that having been a University of Iowa student gives him strong connections to the university community.

14-day window to force special election remains open

With the appointment taking place Tuesday, a final 14-day window opens that gives Iowa City residents an opportunity to force a special election for the seat. The petitioners would need valid signatures from 743 eligible Iowa City voters, due to the city clerk by Jan. 24.

The petition form for a special election is available at the Iowa secretary of state's website.

The last special election for Iowa City Council was in 2018, when Kingsley Botchway vacated his seat and the council decided to hold a special election rather than appoint a replacement. Teague, the eventual mayor, won the special election with three years left in that term.

The last special election for Iowa City forced by petition was in 1993, when Randy Larson resigned from the council and members opted to make an appointment to the District C seat. Before the council could make a choice, city residents filed a petition forcing the vote.

Bruno Pigott won but later lost reelection in 1995 to Dean Thornberry.

George Shillcock is the Press-Citizen's local government and development reporter covering Iowa City and Johnson County. He can be reached at (319) 214-5039, GShillcock@press-citizen.com and on Twitter @ShillcockGeorge

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Iowa City Council appoints Andrew Dunn to open at-large seat