Green, the former mayor of Lone Tree, was selected Tuesday night as the Democratic candidate for the special election to fill the seat vacated by Janelle Rettig last month.
Green increased his lead over Foster to 23 votes on the second ballot, and the delegates who had voted for third-place finisher Scott Finlayson of Iowa City, deputy treasurer for the county, had to decide between Green and Foster on the final ballot.
The 38-year-old Green has been in or around politics most of his adult life, either as a journalist or the press secretary for Dave Freudenthal, the last Democrat to serve as governor of Wyoming.
A couple in their 80s came to the meeting to ask the council to do something about the newly resealed road in front of their house, because it was causing rainwater to drain into their garage damaging it.
And yeah, a lot of times there are no magic wands to fix things, but you get a hell of a lot further if you’re just willing to sit down and listen to folks.
After receiving a degree in mass communications from Morningside College in Sioux City, Green moved to Wyoming, where he worked as a reporter and Freudenthal’s press secretary.
Sanders returned Green’s support of both his 2016 and 2020 presidential runs by issuing an endorsement of Green the day before the county nominating convention.
Green was elected to the Democratic Party’s state central committee in 2018.
Outside of his hometown and the official ranks of the Iowa Democratic Party, Green is probably best known for being the mayor of Lone Tree who recommended the city eliminate the position of mayor.
Green felt a city administrator could do a better job than a mayor addressing the needs of residents, and act as a fulltime advocate on behalf of Lone Tree in dealing with the county, state and federal governments.
As mayor, he started work on some progressive policies, including increasing the pay of city workers to $15 an hour and organizing a working group to address the problem of affordable childcare in Lone Tree.
The proposal that did excite attention didn’t end up succeeding; Lone Tree still has an elected mayor.
In the June 8 special election, Green will face Republican nominee Phil Hemingway, who was also the Republican nominee in the 2018 special election to fill a vacancy on the Johnson County Board of Supervisors, and Brian Campbell who qualified for the June ballot by collecting enough signatures to run as a candidate with no party affiliation.
Little Village is an independent media company based in Iowa City.