City elections in Des Moines, Iowa (2025)

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2024
2025 Des Moines elections
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Election dates
Filing deadline: September 18, 2025
General election: November 4, 2025
Runoff election: December 2, 2025 (not needed)
Election stats
Offices up: City council
Other municipal elections
U.S. municipal elections, 2025

The city of Des Moines, Iowa, held general elections for city council on November 4, 2025. A runoff election was scheduled for December 2, 2025, but it was not needed. The filing deadline for this election was September 18, 2025.

Ballotpedia comprehensively covers the 100 largest cities in the United States by population. Our coverage also includes mayors, city councils, and district attorneys in the 32 state capitals that are not already part of our largest cities coverage. Please note that there may have been more offices on the ballot in this capital city than what is listed on this page.

Elections

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Candidates and results

City council

General election

Des Moines City Council general election, 2025

  • Incumbents are marked with an (i) after their name.
Office Candidates
at-large

Green check mark transparent.pngMike Simonson (i)
Endi Montalvo-Martinez 
Ward I

Green check mark transparent.pngRob X. Barron 
CeCe Ibson 
Dudley Muhammad 
Ward III

Green check mark transparent.pngJosh Mandelbaum (i)


Additional elections on the ballot

See also: Iowa elections, 2025

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About the city

See also: Des Moines, Iowa

Des Moines is a city in Polk County, Iowa. As of 2020, its population was 214,133.

City government

See also: Council-manager government

The city of Des Moines utilizes a council-manager system. In this form of municipal government, an elected city council—which includes the mayor and serves as the city's primary legislative body—appoints a chief executive called a city manager to oversee day-to-day municipal operations and implement the council's policy and legislative initiatives.[1]

Demographics

The following table displays demographic data provided by the United States Census Bureau.

Demographic Data for Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines Iowa
Population 214,133 3,190,369
Land area (sq mi) 88 55,853
Race and ethnicity**
White 73.3% 89.1%
Black/African American 11.4% 3.7%
Asian 6.5% 2.5%
Native American 0.3% 0.3%
Pacific Islander 0.1% 0.1%
Other (single race) N/A 1.3%
Multiple 5.3% 3%
Hispanic/Latino 14% 6.2%
Education
High school graduation rate 86.7% 92.5%
College graduation rate 27.9% 29.3%
Income
Median household income $54,843 $61,836
Persons below poverty level 16% 11.1%
Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2020). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2015-2020).
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.


See also

Des Moines, Iowa Iowa Municipal government Other local coverage
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External links

Footnotes