Hanafan, who served seven terms – a total of 25 years – as mayor, retired in January.Since Hanafan didn’t file before the deadline for candidates running under a political party affiliation, he will run as an independent. A Democrat during his tenure as mayor, Hanafan said that county races should be nonpartisan, citing the Council Bluffs City Council as a nonpartisan board.

Hanafan also said his move back into politics was influenced by several conversations about taxes and infrastructure with people in Council Bluffs, Carter Lake and rural communities in Pottawattamie County. Kristi Everett, first deputy auditor of elections for the Pottawattamie County Auditor’s Office, said Hanafan was nominated by petition, which meant he needed at least 100 signatures to be on the ballot. In late April, Hanafan said he had more than 500 signatures.

Other county board candidates include Republicans Scott Belt, Loren Knauss and Justin Schultz. No Democrats filed papers for the race. The filing deadline to run as an independent in the Nov. 4th general election is Aug. 27th.