Ross Wilburn
A Democrat who ran for governor in 2018 has been elected to serve in the Iowa House of Representatives.
Ross Wilburn was the first African American elected mayor of Iowa City. He moved to Ames a few years ago to take a job with Iowa State University Extension.
Wilburn won today’s special election to fill the Iowa House seat Lisa Heddens of Ames had held since 2003. She resigned from the legislature earlier this summer after being appointed to an opening on the Story County Board of Supervisors.
Wilburn was the only candidate on the ballot. Republicans did not field a candidate in the district, which has a sizable voter registration edge for Democrats.
According to unofficial results posted online by the Story County Auditor, about 1200 of the nearly 26,000 registered voters cast ballots in the special election in Iowa House District 46. Wilburn finished the 2018 Democratic Primary for governor with 3807 votes or 2.2 percent of the total cast statewide.
Wilburn will be sworn into office later this month to a term in the Iowa House that runs through early January of 2021.