CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — In a tight race, voters narrowly turned down the Cedar Rapids Community School District’s $117 million bond referendum and elected new School Board members on Election Day 2025.
Votes on Nov. 4 for City Council were unsurprising, as most incumbents were unopposed.
Tiffany O’Donnell easily won reelection to her second four-year term as Cedar Rapids mayor over challenger Myra Bradwell, who has previously run for mayor as Gregory Hughes, but changed his name to that of the 19th Century women’s rights activist before the 2021 election, when he also failed to gain traction.
According to unofficial results, O’Donnell received 16,139 votes to 4,529 for Bradwell, or nearly 77 percent to almost 22 percent.
At-large council member Tyler Olson; District 3 representative Dale Todd and District 5 council member Ashley Vanorny, all incumbents, were unopposed and won reelection, while District 1 incumbent Marty Hoeger fended off a challenge from Sam Wilson to win reelection, 2,903 to 1,794, or 61 percent to nearly 38 percent, according to unofficial results.
In a three-way race to replace longtime Cedar Rapids School Board District 2 incumbent Nancy Humbles, who opted to not run for reelection, preliminary results showed Scott Drzycimski, director of public affairs for ITC Midwest, who spearheaded the previous school bond referendum that failed in 2023, won over longtime school volunteer David Chung, and over social justice activist Mimi Daoud, who works for Kirkwood Community College and would have been the first Muslim elected to the School Board.
According to unofficial results, Drzycimski received 8,237 votes, to 4,679 for Chung and 6,820 for Daoud.
Wilson Middle School is among the schools that would have been affected by the Cedar Rapids School District’s $117 million bond referendum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
In what might be considered two upsets, current School Board Vice President Marcy Roundtree lost her bid for reelection for the at-large seat to newcomer Laura Zimmerman, who previously taught at Roosevelt Middle School, 7,175 to 11,768, or nearly 38 percent to almost 62 percent, according to unofficial results.
District 3 incumbent Jennifer Borcherding also lost her bid for reelection to newcomer Ashley Burns, who attended Cedar Rapids Catholic schools and described herself as a political and community organizer and past surgical technician. According to unofficial results, Borcherding received 8,551 votes to 9,924 for Burns, or nearly 46 percent to 53 percent.
The School District’s bond referendum needed 60 percent approval to pass and according to unofficial results, received 59.28 percent, with 13,537 “yes” votes to 9,299 voting against the measure, which would have included the following:
McKinley Middle School: $45 million renovation; Wilson Middle School: $35 million renovation to accommodate elementary students from Grant and Taylor, known as Cedar River Academy; Roosevelt Middle School: $25 million renovation to accommodate students from Wilson; Kennedy High School: $12 million renovation to add a Freshman Academy and expand commons and kitchen areas.
The district has not said what would have happened to the Grant and Taylor school buildings if the students were combined at Wilson.
Property owners in the Cedar Rapids School District would have paid about $90 more annually in taxes on a $200,000 home for the bond issue.
After the overwhelming failure of the school district’s $220 million bond referendum in November 2023, the board hired Shive-Hattery Architecture & Engineering for $850,000 to conduct a survey surrounding reasons for the failure and to direct this year’s bond referendum.
The “vote yes” campaign spent heavily on mail advertisements in the weeks leading up to Election Day.
Related: Challengers say Cedar Rapids School Board needs new leadership
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