Cedar Falls Elects Rob Green New Mayor
- Mi Kayla Whitman
- Nov 12, 2019
- 2 min read
Rob Green admitted that he spent far more time polishing his losing speech rather than his victory speech for election night in Cedar Falls. However, his night ended by announcing his big win on a Facebook Livestream recorded by his wife Jocelyn Green at home with their two children. The unofficial results report that Green received 4,625 votes, which was 54.68%. Jim Brown had 41.17%, and Jim Skaine received 3.9% of the votes.
Earlier that evening, Green held his campaign celebration party at Chapala, a Mexican restaurant located on the corner of Hudson Road and West 1st Street. His friends and family gathered to show their support, and he and his family all took time to speak with me about the campaign overall.
“I’m surprised at the number of people asking for yard signs and information that have never voted before,” Green said, “I’m expecting a bigger voter turn-out than previous elections.”
Much of the mayoral campaign has been centered around the singular issue of the new PSO model. Green felt that this was the main reason for the higher voter turn-out, and turned the perception of the two leading men into one-issue candidates. Current Mayor Brown was a devout supporter of the new model, while Green said he wasn’t completely against it, but that it needs significant change.
“It’s sort of taken all the air out of the room for other things that we’d like to work on,” Green said.
Green explained that a big issue besides the PSO model includes the city’s zoning ordinances which haven’t been updated since the 70’s. He is excited to re-work those to better suit Cedar Falls as it is today.
“I am very proud of his campaign,” said Greens wife, best-selling author Jocelyn Green, “He is the most thoughtful person I know.”
Jocelyn also said, “He really has a philosophy of getting input from residents rather than making can executive decision and hoping residents are okay with it.”
At 9pm, the restaurant closed and the race was still extremely close, so Green graciously invited us to his house to await the results. He sat down to look for any updates, while their three cats came to curiously check out the newcomers. All named after snack foods, Rolo, Cheeto and Oreo didn’t know that they would soon be the top tier of furry friends in Cedar Falls.
Before all of the votes were even fully reported on Tuesday night, Green’s closest opponent, current Mayor Jim Brown, conceded the race. Immediately after, Greens phone began ringing off the hook as journalists and family members tried to get ahold of him.
When he got the chance, Green gave his victory speech to his wife, how recorded it for a Facebook Livestream.
“Tomorrow is the time to begin charting a new course for how city hall carries out local government in your name,” Green said, “The two months to the January 1st inauguration will be here before we know it.”
Watch more footage of Rob Green on election night below.
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