Rachel Junck, an Iowa State University student and born-and-raised Ames native, won her runoff race against incumbent Chris Nelson to win the 4th Ward City Council seat. Rachel is a chemical engineering student at Iowa State and will graduate in the spring of 2021.

This is a landmark victory for Junck, as the 20-year-old seals her place in Iowa history to become the youngest woman voted into any elected seat in the state’s history.

“It’s such an honor to have the title of the youngest woman ever elected, but it’s more of an honor to be able to represent all of the people of Ames,” Junck told Starting Line this evening. “Whether that’s students or lifelong residents, just really being able to represent them is really exciting to me.”

Rachel Junck and her campaign team celebrate their hard-earned victory that took nearly two full months of constant door knocking to secure.

Junck was just seven votes shy of securing the seat outright in the November municipal elections, narrowly falling short of the 50% threshold. But tonight, Junck celebrated with her team, friends and family in Ames as results rolled in.

Junck and her campaign have been knocking doors after class every day for nearly two months. The first month was leading up to municipal elections in early November, the second following a close race that led to this runoff.

“I know how much work we put in the first time around just to get to that 49.5%, but then to see the voter turnout even go up in a runoff election was incredible,” Junck said. “To get that percentage of the vote tonight is just incredible.”

The @rachelforames is very very pumped about her victory tonight, results just rolled in! pic.twitter.com/ZSmoGo3fAb — Josh Cook (@Josh_Cook_) December 4, 2019

With nearly 55% of the 1,300+ votes cast secured, Junck looks to have won fairly safely and should be good from any absentee or provisional votes that haven’t been counted yet.

Junck thanked her team and her friends and family for their support and said she’s excited to get to work.

“I look forward to putting all the issues we’ve been talking about into action,” Junck said. “Moving on local climate action, affordable housing, quality of life; really, the issues that the people of Ames voted for me to work on.”

By Josh Cook

Posted 12/3/19