Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple’s tenure is coming to a close this week.
He won election to the office in 2019 and began serving as mayor right before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the city and the rest of the world.
Whipple talked with KMUW about his time as mayor and his future plans.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
What is it that you're most proud of during your tenure as mayor?
I think my favorite part about being mayor is how we're able to rebound from just multiple issues, including COVID, including the downturn in the economy following COVID. Just really how it was all hands on deck with not just the city, but the state, the county and also the nonprofit, and even the business sector, getting us through that. That was pretty great to see us come together as a community.
Personally, some of my favorite stuff is, of course, passing the nondiscrimination ordinance because that had a real positive impact on people who I think just felt like they haven't been heard in a long time by their elected leaders.
Also, the budget. We were able to cut property taxes for older folks and for disabled veterans. That was a big one. And, of course, shifting the $31 million from really a luxury lake project into paving neighborhoods that have not got their fair share from the city government who still have dirt roads.
Were there also lessons you learned while you were in office?
My last four years, to be honest, it's been a total lesson. You can't really go through this process without learning something about yourself and also learning more about the people you work with. I remember someone in the legislature told me in politics there’s no permanent friends or enemies; it depends on the day, it depends on the issue.
It's interesting to try to work with people for change, and then you deliver that change, and then you realize, they didn't actually want the change, they wanted to walk through the process of change. Basically, they wanted something to do almost. So that was an interesting realization.
Where we get folks who wanted something done, whether it’s saving Century II or making changes in our ordinances for, let's say, how cigarettes are sold to help protect minors. Just a number of things where people, activists, have come in and said, ‘Hey, we want you to do this or that’ and we do it, and then they’re still kind of upset afterwards.
I wouldn't wish this four years on anyone. Again, we've been through more as a city than I think we have in the typical mayor term. I look forward to going a year without a death threat; I think that would be awesome.
Was there anything that sort of surprised you about the outcome of this campaign this year?
The spending … really surprised me. We knew we were going to be outspent. It’s anywhere between 6-to-1 to 8-to-1, depending on who you ask, as far as being outspent. That's remarkable. I can usually overcome 2-to-1 spending; I've done that before. I've done it my whole career, 2-to-1 spending, maybe 3-to-1, towards the end. It was basically a Congressional level race.
Are finances the only thing you sort of attribute to your loss? Like you said before, you have been outspent in races. Your first term as mayor, you won, even though you’ve spent and raised a lot less than your opponent.
We were outspent about 2-to-1 in that race. I'm not knocking my opponent; Lily worked very hard. But I don't know there's a race in the country, at this level, that anyone can point to that's 8-to-1 spending advantage without something crazy happening in the background, right? Without, I don’t know, someone [getting] arrested, something really unusual happening. You can't ignore the spending when you talk about the outcome of this race.
What’s next for you? Are you ever ruling out a run for public office, or is that in the future for you at all?
My wife and I, we’re people of faith, and we kind of look for what we're being called to do. I never thought I was going to be mayor of Wichita. I remember running, just feeling like this was right in the moment.
So moving forward, I'm not sure what the next thing is. I do believe that I see myself in the classroom in the future, teaching at the college level, hopefully. Whether that's in Wichita or not, we’d have to see if there’s any opportunities. But also, I would just keep it open to what's next.
So then you're not ruling out a run for office in the future?
I'm definitely not planning to run for office in the future. One of my problems, too, is when you’re elected … the moment I say something like as a definite, is a moment it doesn't become a definite, right? I’m not planning on any runs any time soon, and I guess I can leave it at that.
