What Mayor-elect Connie Boesen plans to do in her first 100 days as Des Moines' mayor

The Nov. 7 city election marked a historic moment when voters elected Des Moines' first woman mayor. But as for the rest of the City Council, it wasn't the shake-up some may have expected.

Turnout for the 2023 election in Polk County trended higher than last cycle, in 2021, and the race between Connie Boesen, 72, and competitor Josh Mandelbaum, 44, was close, with 723 votes separating the two, according to unofficial results. She'll be the city's first new mayor in 20 years after Mayor Frank Cownie did not seek reelection.

The 180-degree flip that could have altered the composition of about half the council never materialized. Multiple candidates tried in vain to unseat multiterm incumbents for the at-large, Ward 2 (northeast) and Ward 4 (southeast) seats, leaving the three incumbents to reprise their roles. And of the seven candidates who appeared on the ballot for the special election in Ward 1 (northwest), voters went with the person who previously sat on the council for more than two decades.

More: Connie Boesen has won Des Moines mayor's race, will be the first woman to hold the office

Here's a look at where the mayoral candidates garnered support, how the council is shaping up in 2024 and what Mayor-elect Boesen has planned for her first 100 days in office.

Where did support for Boesen, Mandelbaum come from?

In the mayoral race, Boesen and Mandelbaum won across all 73 precincts over opponents Denver Foote and Chris W. Von Arx. Boesen earned 48% of the votes, Mandelbaum 46%, Foote 3% and Von Arx 2%, according to unofficial results.

Mandelbaum captured support largely from the central and northwest portions of the city, while Boesen won the east and south sides, according to an election analysis by the Des Moines Register.

Mandelbaum, whose Ward 3 encompasses downtown, as well as the southwest portion of the city, was most popular in the northern half of his ward. His support came mainly from the downtown core and East Village, as well as densely populated neighborhoods in Ward 1, such as Woodland Heights, Drake, River Bend and Waveland Park.

Boesen drew the vast majority of her support from the areas south of the confluence of the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers, as well as most precincts east of East 14th Street.

More: How did Connie Boesen win the Des Moines mayor election? These 3 graphics tell the story

What will the Des Moines City Council look like in 2024?

The short answer: Much like it does now.

Three council members who ran for reelection this year will retain their seats: at-large council member Carl Voss, Ward 2 representative Linda Westergaard and Ward 4 representative Joe Gatto. Mandelbaum will keep his seat as Ward 3 representative.

Chris Coleman, who previously served as an at-large council member for 21 years after winning a special election in 1998, will return to the council table as the Ward 1 representative. He will fill the remainder of the term of Indira Sheumaker, who resigned in October after a six-month absence.

An at-large seat will become open once Boesen takes over as mayor in January.

To Boesen, the largely unchanged council makeup signifies community members' longing for "stability."

"I think that's why a Chris Coleman (won)," she said. "They went through some pretty tough times with not having somebody that showed up and was present.

"Somebody told me it was much easier to get elected than to govern, and I think that they saw you had people that care about the community and want to stick to the local issues."

More: Des Moines mayoral candidates raise nearly $700K in campaign donations combined

Mandelbaum said it's hard to draw clear conclusions from the race, but did say that council candidates running as incumbents enjoyed significant advantages, specifically when it comes to fundraising.

"If you look at the amount of money that the incumbents had and where some of that came from, it's hard to overcome for folks," he said.

What does Mayor-elect Connie Boesen want to accomplish in the first 100 days?

Boesen's upcoming tenure will be all about being "present" and "out there," she told the Register.

In the first several months, Boesen said she plans to schedule meetings with City Council members and city staff to understand their objectives and needs.

Boesen said a critical piece will be community outreach, and much of that could come from what she calls "mayor's listening sessions."

"We're going to go out to where they're at, whether it's just a mayor forum, (or) if the council wants to come, but going into the communities where the people are and not waiting for them to come to the library or to come to a northwest community center," she said.

This type of outreach extends beyond the traditional neighborhood associations, she added, and is meant to include community members who aren't always heard, such as immigrants or those with language barriers. She hopes the outreach also will include people who can't easily attend council meetings on a regular basis.

"I think it's important for me to get out," Boesen said. "I've been emphatic about being part of the community, and I want to show up and be present."

Boesen hopes to put open forums and dialogues into practice when the council begins to discuss next year's budget, as well as find other "creative" ways to get community members involved in the process.

Boesen aims to find a better budget process that "gets more true community input," she says. "We've got to figure out how to get people more engaged."

"We need to create that sense of community because community brings strength, and it also brings a safety factor and (people) become more informed about what's out there."

She also wants to encourage the city to hire two staff members to help bolster economic development. One would recruit developers and business owners, small and large, to Des Moines. Another would guide new business owners through the licensing and zoning process to help them open quickly and efficiently, she said.

And she wants to have meetings with Polk County and Iowa leaders, as well as other mayors from across the state, to discuss collaboration and projects, such as opportunities for affordable housing.

"How do we bridge the conversation and have a better dialogue with everyone? And that's what I'll be working on in the first 100 days," she said.

What's next for Josh Mandelbaum?

In an emotional concession speech at his election party at Mars Cafe on Tuesday night, Mandelbaum thanked his family, saying that they motivate him to get through tough days. He heartily thanked his campaign team and supporters, encouraging them to stay and "fight" for a better community.

"I got in this campaign because I believe we need to create a community that works better for everyone and provides opportunity," he said. "I still believe that with all my heart."

Mandelbaum told the Register on Tuesday that in the months ahead he will take time to figure out the next steps, pointing to the challenges of balancing family life, the City Council and a full-time career. Mandelbaum works as an environmental attorney at a nonprofit focused on clean energy, climate and clean water issues.

"This is tough, right? And I'm gonna take some time… I mean, you miss things that other people don't as a consequence of it," he said. "And I've got to have conversations with my family about what's next. …

"But I'm not in any rush to make those decisions. I'm going to just take some time, spend some time with my family and what the future will come."

In a conversation with the Register on Friday, he added the council will have to have upcoming discussions over issues such as the future of the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority, which is facing a potential 40% reduction in service levels in Des Moines due to a budget shortfall.

What's next for Denver Foote?

In an open letter to the community published Wednesday evening, Foote thanked their campaign supporters. They also thanked candidates who ran "progressive" city campaigns before them and contemporaneously, pointing to Chelsea Lepley, who ran against Westergaard in Ward 2, and Jason Benell, who challenged Gatto in Ward 4.

"We need more people like this in our community, more people willing to run real grassroots campaigns and fight like hell for their community," Foote said.

Foote said they ran to protect and to be a voice for the most underserved communities, including individuals experiencing homelessness and living in poverty, the LGBTQ community, and "families met with racism and harm by police." Looking ahead, Foote said they have no plans to let up on that mission.

"I have no plans of accepting defeat or moving aside after the results of this election. I will continue to fight for my community and show up however I can to serve our collective needs," Foote wrote. "I hope if you’re reading this that you will show up alongside me. The fight to abolish systems of oppression is multifaceted and there are so many different ways to get involved."

For his part, Von Arx was largely absent from the race.

How do Boesen, Mandelbaum plan to collaborate?

Throughout a months-long — and at times, contentious — campaign, Boesen and Mandelbaum have maintained they're more than willing to work together despite the outcome of the race.

During his concession speech, Mandelbaum said the city is in "good hands" with Boesen, adding that he looks forward to working with her.

"I pledge to work with her and to do everything I can to make her successful and to make our city successful," Mandelbaum said.

Mandelbaum told the Register he hopes issues like housing are prioritized and that elected officials live up to commitments made during the campaign. He pointed to a news release from the Boesen campaign in mid-October that said Boesen would do everything in her power to protect reproductive freedom.

The two candidates, who took similar stances throughout the race on core issues like affordable housing, city growth and public safety, were most notably separated over whether state issues have a place in city politics.

The rift over reproductive freedom became the most contentious issue of the race. Mandelbaum had preemptively drafted a resolution in 2022 to safeguard access to abortion for Des Moines residents, which was rejected by fellow council members including Boesen. He said during the campaign that he was the only candidate for mayor who has stood up for reproductive freedom. Boesen and Foote disputed that characterization.

"I hope that means that she's planning on revisiting and looking at the four steps that I identified because all of those are within our power today," Mandelbaum said on Friday in reference to the failed resolution. Provisions included committing the city to providing its employees continued access to reproductive health care, and prohibiting, other than where required by federal or state law, the use of city funds to store or catalog information about abortions, miscarriages or reproductive health services. He pointed to a statement from Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa, which said the city could implement what he proposed.

Boesen says at the end of the day, "campaigns are campaigns," and the council needs to focus on what's best for residents moving forward.

What happens to Boesen's former at-large seat?

With the newly vacant at-large seat, the City Council will have to decide whether to appoint someone or call a special election to fill the vacancy, according to Polk County Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald.

Des Moines Register reporter Courtney Crowder contributed to this story.

Virginia Barreda is the Des Moines city government reporter for the Register. She can be reached at vbarreda@dmreg.com. Follow her on Twitter at @vbarreda2.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: How Des Moines Mayor-elect Connie Boesen plans to tackle her new job