Bettendorf’s seven-term mayor is switching political parties and announcing a run for Congress. Fifty-three-year-old Ann Hutchinson has become a democrat and hopes to take on republican Congressman Jim Nussle next year in the newly-drawn first district. She’ll have a primary, though, against former Congressman Dave Nagle of Waterloo. Hutchinson says the time’s right for a congressional run because of recent redistricting. Congressman Jim Leach of Davenport has decided to move to Iowa City and run for the new second district seat. If elected, Hutchinson says she’ll work to keep the Rock Island Arsenal vibrant, and she’ll lobby for another Quad City-area bridge over the Mississippi River.
