Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday night called to congratulate the mayor-elect of an Iowa city that attracted conservative outside spending in its elections, the Des Moines Register reported.
Coralville, Iowa City Council member John Lundell, whom unofficial results showed winning the mayoral contest, told the newspaper he was surprised by a phone call from Biden soon after the returns looked to be solidly in his favor.
“He indicated that he was very proud of our city, that we took on the Koch brothers and successfully beat them by such a huge margin,” Lundell told the Register. “That was another aspect of this election that was unanticipated, that after the polls closed that I’d be speaking to the vice president of the United States.”
Americans for Prosperity, a nonprofit backed by conservative benefactors Charles and David Koch, poured money into Coralville’s elections to try to unseat incumbent city council candidates, according to the Register.
Last month, Biden phoned the winner of the race for Iowa’s House District 33, Brian Meyer (D), while the state representative-elect was watching the World Series at an Applebee’s. The call immediately sparked speculation that Biden was ramping up outreach in the caucus state ahead of a 2016 presidential run.
