City Council Ward 4 Candidate Forum

Come out for an evening where you will be given an opportunity to ask questions to the city council Ward 4 candidates, Joe Van Erdewyk, Rachel Junck, and Chris Nelson.  During the forum, moderator, Dr. Kelly Shaw will be asking each candidate questions that relate to problems in the city of Ames.  Students and community members will also have a chance to ask the candidates questions throughout the event.

Joe Van Erdewyk is a fifth generation Iowan, born in Carroll and raised in Cedar Rapids. His dad taught him the meaning of hard work and his mom taught him the value of compassion and generosity. He moved to Ames eight years ago to attend ISU and has been a part of the community ever since. Two years ago, he graduated from Iowa State with a history degree and a political science minor, he chose to stay in Ames, working at CyRide for almost four years now. 

Rachel Junck was born and raised in Ames, Iowa, the home of Iowa State University, where she currently studies chemical engineering. Rachel is running to be the voice of students, who make up more than half of the city's population, and life-long residents like herself alike. When elected, at age twenty, Rachel will be the youngest woman elected to any office in the history of Iowa."

Chris Nelson is currently serving his second term as the Ward 4 Councilperson on the Ames City Council. He is a sixth generation Ames resident and is currently Vice President of Nelson Electric Company, a 111 year old family business.  In between graduating from Iowa State and returning to Ames in 2008, Chris spent two years as a Project Manager for Bulley & Andrews, a Chicago-based general contractor and nine years with The Weitz Company, a nation wide general contractor based in Des Moines, as an Enterprise Systems Manager in the Information Technology department.

Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Political Science, Kelly B Shaw will be the moderator for the evenings event. His teaching competencies lie in the American and comparative politics subfields of the discipline, where he teaching courses on campaigns and elections, political parties, interest groups, state and local politics, and European politics.  Shaw was elected mayor of Indianola, Iowa in November 2013, and has served as that city's mayor since January 1, 2014.