Voters reelect Black Iowa mayor targeted by pro-police group

By RYAN J. FOLEY
Associated Press

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Voters have reelected the Black mayor of Iowa’s eighth-largest city, Waterloo, which will also have its first majority-Black City Council. The historic outcome of Tuesday’s election followed a campaign marked by bitter debates over policing and race. Quentin Hart, who became Waterloo’s first Black mayor in 2015, won a fourth two-year term. With three Black candidates also winning open City Council seats, four of its seven members will be Black. Hart and all four winning council candidates, including a white incumbent, defeated rivals endorsed by a political action committee, Cedar Valley Backs the Blue, that formed to oppose Hart’s reelection and support what it called “pro-law enforcement candidates.”