Ben Rogers, Kirsten Running-Marquardt win Linn supervisor races

While an incumbent won in one of the Linn County supervisor races, the other race involved a precinct that didn’t have the race on its ballot.

District 2 incumbent Ben Rogers was elected for a fifth term to the three-member Linn County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. State Rep. Kirsten Running-Marquardt won the District 1 race.

Rogers received 18,206 votes while his opponent, Republican entrepreneur and computer consultant Brett Mason, garnered 11,888.

“I’m grateful that that citizens still see the value in having me on the board and I look forward to working on issues that improve people’s lives here in Linn County,” Rogers said. “I’m feeling a lot of gratitude that voters have put their trust in me over the years. I’m going to work hard to maintain that trust.”

“It is an honor and a privilege to continue to serve this community as supervisor and I want to thank Brett Mason entering into the arena and advocating on issues important to him,” Rogers added.

Mason said he was proud of the campaign he ran, regardless of the outcome.

“Ben won by a big, pelting margin,” Mason said. “I know I worked very hard and got lots of good encouragement from people. I think we ran a good race. We just didn’t get enough votes.”

Rogers, 42, was re-elected in 2012 and 2016. Then when the board was reduced from five members to three, all supervisor seats were up for election again in 2018. He was re-elected that year, too.

Rogers earned his master’s in strategic leadership from Mount Mercy University last year. He spearheaded the creation of Linn County’s Mental Health Access Center, which opened last year.

District 2 covers all of northeast and southeast Cedar Rapids and Hiawatha.

All results are unofficial until the Board of Supervisors canvasses the results next Tuesday.

District 1

In the District 1 race, Running-Marquardt won against business owner Mark Banowetz of Ely with 15,096 votes while Banowetz received 11,281 votes.

Running-Marquardt, 44, born and raised in southwest Cedar Rapids, will be bringing 13 years in state government where she was a state representative.

“I’m just grateful to the people who voted for me and I hope to earn the support of the others,” Running-Marquardt said on Tuesday night. “I want to be a voice for all of the whole hard working people, not just the people in the district, but also throughout the entire county.

“I want to work to move the county forward. I’m just looking forward to working for the people of Linn County.”

Running-Marquardt graduated from LaSalle High School, attended Kirkwood Community College and received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa as well as her master’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa.

The district represents southern Linn County, including western Cedar Rapids, Ely and Fairfax. Supervisor Stacey Walker, which represents the district, did not seek re-election.

Missing race

Banowetz discovered on Election Day while at his polling place that the supervisors’ race wasn’t on the ballot in Putnam Township. The race did appear on other precincts in the district.

Banowetz told The Gazette that he was going to wait until Wednesday to decide what he will do.

“I won’t say anything until tomorrow, until we know what we’re looking at,” Banowetz said.

Linn County Auditor Joel Miller said Tuesday that a special election could be called depending on what the candidates want to do.

County supervisors are paid $124,967 annually. Terms are for four years.

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