Full-time questions hit Polk races as GOP vets challengers

Polk County Democrats running for supervisor are beginning to clarify whether they would make the job their full-time professional focus.

Why it matters: Republicans are weighing general-election challenges, and the issue could play a role in whether Democrats retain control of the five-member board.

Catch up quick: The question of outside employment became a county issue after Republican supervisors Mark Holm and Jill Altringer took office in January while keeping their jobs.

Supervisors earn about $149,000 a year, and the county describes the role as one in which members are expected to be available to constituents full-time — an expectation that Holm and Altringer say they are meeting even while juggling other jobs.

Heather Jones-Brown and John Forbes. Photos: Jonathan Keitt Photography via Jones-Brown and Courtesy of Forbes for Polk County Supervisor

State of play: No Republicans ran in the June 2 primaries for any of the three open supervisor seats.

The Republican Party of Polk County has until Aug. 26 to name potential candidates and some have expressed interest in running, chairperson Andrew Ventling tells Axios.

Zoom in: Two of the three Democratic nominees tell Axios they would make the supervisor job their full-time professional focus.

John Forbes, who defeated incumbent Matt McCoy in District 1, is retired from his Urbandale pharmacy practice and tells Axios he would stop doing occasional relief pharmacist work for a friend once his term begins.

Heather Jones-Brown, who won the District 4 primary against Des Moines Councilperson Joe Gatto, tells Axios she would leave her job as the assistant chief diversity officer at Grinnell College and work full-time as a supervisor.

Izaah Knox, a Democratic state senator and executive director of Urban Dreams. Photo: Courtesy of the Iowa Legislature

The unanswered question: State Sen. Izaah Knox, who was unopposed in the District 5 Democratic primary to replace retiring Supervisor Angela Connolly, did not respond to multiple Axios requests about whether he would leave his job if elected.

Knox is executive director of Urban Dreams, where the nonprofit's most recently filed tax return lists him as working 40 hours per week and receiving $139,650 in reportable compensation in 2024.

The intrigue: Forbes says he would support exploring a policy that would reduce supervisors' pay by half for members who maintain other full-time employment, while acknowledging there may be legal questions.

The current group of supervisors did not act on a similar request from a former Polk County administrator last year.

What we're watching: Whether Knox clarifies his Urban Dreams plans before November.