Well, I was happy to see this morning that Steve Fenton --- a former neighbor, actually since we were kids if you broaden the "south of Russell" neighborhood enough --- has been re-elected to another term on the Chariton City Council.
Gary Shutt, a newcomer, took the other open seat --- which is fine. I voted instead for Carl Tubbs because he had previous experience as council member and mayor at his former home, Brooklyn (Iowa).
So far as school board was concerned, Sarah Willis (incumbent), Jarid Howell and Ryan Dachenbach were the winners in a field of seven. I preferred Alesha Urich and Jamie Aulwes, but so be it.
Whatever the case, I hope Alesha, Carl and others who demonstrated commitment to their community by running in the first place won't be too discouraged --- and will stay involved.
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In general, it appears that progressive candidates dominated the field in Iowa's larger school districts --- and that's a positive.
Over at Pella, a non-binding resolution that would have encouraged City Council to wrest control of the public library from the independent board it appoints in order to assume control of book buying failed. That's encouraging, too.
The resolution grew out of an effort to ban or restrict access to Maia Kobabe's LGBTQ+ memoir "Gender Queer" at the library. The failed effort was led by an on-air personality at Pella's Christian radio station.
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Elsewhere in the country, response to Republican efforts to eliminate or restrict reproductive healthcare rights for women produced results encouraging to Democrats.
In Ohio, a ballot measure establishing a right to abortion in the State Constitution won by a double-digit margin in a decidedly conservative state; down in Kentucky, Andy Beshear, Democratic governor, won a second term after a campaign fueled by the abortion issue; and in Virginia, Democrats won control of both chambers after campaigns focused largely on abortion, too.
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