Democrat Royceann Porter defeats Republican Phil Hemingway for Johnson County Board of Supervisors seat

IOWA CITY - Democrat Royceann Porter will be the newest member of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors after she defeated Republican Phil Hemingway in Tuesday's special election.

Porter, who ran on a message of diversity and inclusion, will become Johnson County's first African American supervisor once the votes are canvassed, according to election officials. She'll keep the board all-Democratic and fill a vacant seat on the board, with a term lasting through 2020.

Porter, 52 and a union organizer, received 5,444 votes, or 56 percent, compared to Hemingway's 4,167 votes, or 43 percent. Hemingway, 58, an Iowa City school board member, ran on a platform of rural representation and fiscal responsibility.

The county saw a turnout of 9.98 percent, much higher than the previous county special election in 2016, which totaled 3.6 percent of registered voters.

'For me, I'm humbled and honored. I'm just in awe. It's not about, for me, just making it about being the first African American but I qualify and the people believed in me and they showed me,” Porter said. '(Supporters) saw the work that I've done and they put it out on Facebook and they showed everybody that they believed in me.”

A statutory committee made up of the Auditor Travis Weipert, Recorder Kim Painter and Treasurer Tom Kriz called for a special election after the death of Supervisor Kurt Friese in October. The election is likely to cost the county $60,000.

Porter said she plans to continue Friese's work on issues such as advocating for local foods and farmers through efforts like agriculture on the Johnson County Historic Poor Farm.

'The work that Kurt did, I'm going to continue that work,” Porter said. I need to learn all that Kurt did but I'm going to carry that torch.”

Earlier this month, Porter snagged the endorsement of U.S. Senator Cory Booker, D-N.J., in a one-minute video clip.

'Without god I could not have done this,” Porter said. 'God is good all the time.”

Porter will join Supervisors Rod Sullivan, Janelle Rettig, Lisa Green-Douglass and Mike Carberry. Carberry's term expires at the end of the year and Supervisor-elect Pat Heiden's term will begin in January.

Johnson County supervisors earn $77,239 a year. Their responsibilities include approving county budgets and levying taxes, entering into contracts on behalf of the county and supervising the secondary roads system.

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