Stephanie Wise came out on top of a heated Republican primary for the District 3 County Commission seat.
Wise will face Celeste Racette in the Nov. 5 general election.
Three candidates were vying to win the Republican primary for the west Sedgwick County seat: Wise, a commercial real estate broker; former City Council member Greg Ferris, and financial analyst Alan Reichert. Wise got 49% of the vote, while Ferris and Reichert got 38% and 14% respectively.
The district encompasses much of west Wichita, rural Sedgwick County and small cities like Goddard, Garden Plain, Colwich and Andale. Incumbent Republican David Dennis, who served as commissioner for the past eight years, is not seeking reelection.
The win came after a particularly bruising Republican primary. Ferris received support from two out-of-state political action committees, one of which accused Wise of being a “puppet for the radical left.” Ferris disavowed the claim, as did Wise. Ferris said the PACs were not working with his campaign; federal law prohibits PACs from coordinating with candidates.
Meanwhile, Wise’s campaign took shots at Ferris for his relationship with the Steven brothers.
“To see those final results felt really, really good,” Wise said. “We’ve put in a lot of time, and I took a lot of hits. So to win felt really, really nice.”
Wise works in commercial real estate as the vice president and associate broker at Street Commercial. She raised $51,774 leading up to the primary campaign, the largest amount of all three candidates. Many donations were from people or companies involved in real estate, construction or development.
Wise was endorsed by Kansans for Life, attorney general Kris Kobach and Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter. Several Christian activist groups also endorsed Wise, including Kansas Family Voice and Culture Shield.
Wise said her win will bring a focus on property tax relief and property rights, especially as a debate about utility-scale solar power plays out in District 3. A major company has proposed a 750-acre solar farm in the area.
“We have a lot of agricultural land, a lot of rural communities, that are really trying to keep their rural setting,” Wise said. “And so protecting property rights is going to be really important to them. And ensuring that this push towards clean energy – and especially how much money they just put against me in this race – making sure that we’re protecting those people and their communities.”
The political nonprofit Conservatives for a Clean Energy Future is the primary donor to the Rural Economic Development PAC, one of the two committees that supported Ferris’ campaign. The Rural Economic Development PAC spent about $65,000 on text messages, direct mail and digital support for Ferris.
The Sedgwick County Conservative PAC raised $25,000 and spent about $17,000 on items such as mailers in support of Ferris.
At his election night event Tuesday night, Ferris shared his appreciation for his supporters.
“We lost. It’s over. It wasn’t meant to be,” Ferris said. “I ran a campaign that was clean. I did what I thought I needed to do.
“Most importantly is … what you guys mean to me; I know that’s more important than anything I’ll ever do.”
Save Century II founder wins Democratic primary for District 3
On the Democratic side of the primary, Racette won 76% of the vote against activist AlmaAnn Jones.
Racette helped form the Save Century II group. A former fraud investigator and bank regulator, she said her previous experiences will help as the county faces a budget deficit.
“There's just a lot of common-sense financial decisions that need to be made that I think is going to take communication, collaboration and cooperation to see positive results for taxpayers in Sedgwick County,” she said.
During the primary, Racette far outraised her opponent with more than $17,000 and spent much of it during the primary. Jones only raised more than $2,000, spending half of that mainly on filing fees for the race.
During an interview on the night of the primary, Racette said she was concerned about the out-of-state PAC money coming into the county race on the Republican side.
“This is a county election, and so when I see thousands and thousands of dollars being spent on endless mailers and attack ads, that's worrisome to me because it shows that politics has grown larger than it should, and it should be about the local community, not Texas PACs, not out-of-state PACs..”
