Incumbent Brandon Whipple and challenger Lily Wu are competing to become Wichita’s next mayor.
Whipple was elected to the office in 2019, ousting incumbent Jeff Longwell. Whipple previously served in the Kansas Legislature.
Wu is a former television anchor and reporter who is making her first run for political office. She’s an active volunteer in the Wichita community.
The mayor serves a four-year term and has one vote, the same as the six members of the City Council. The mayor chairs the weekly council meetings.
The mayor earns just more than $100,000 a year.
Here's where the candidates stand on issues and questions facing the City:
The mayor can set the agenda for the City Council and other initiatives during their tenure. What do you hope to accomplish if you’re re-elected?
Brandon Whipple: During my first term as mayor, we accomplished things that people said for decades couldn’t be done. We’ve diversified our economy by welcoming billions of dollars in private investment and thousands of new jobs.
In my second term, we will solve the biggest challenge facing our community: reaching functional zero for homelessness.
We have the plans and resources in place to produce long-lasting results. The City invested $9.5 million in a housing services hub that will make it easier for those struggling to get the help they need. We will reach our goal of functional zero homeless veterans by the end of the year and will continue that momentum until we have more people leaving than entering homelessness.
Lily Wu: Ensure public safety. As mayor, I will restore the relationship between the mayor’s office, police department and our community. Local law enforcement should have the respect and resources necessary to keep our families safe, fair wages that are regionally competitive, and support for Chief [Joe] Sullivan’s recruitment and retention efforts.
Strengthen our economy. To be a thriving city without further burdening taxpayers, we need to grow our tax base. I want Wichita to be the best city to start and grow a business. As mayor, I’ll open doors for Wichita by cultivating relationships and promoting regional competitiveness that will not only retain talent and industry, but also attract new industry, investment, and people.
Restore trust in City hall. As mayor, I’ll bring the same skills I gained as a reporter to City hall, increasing communication and engaging our community, so more people are at the table to arrive at solutions together.
The Wichita Police Department continues to receive more funding each year, but some argue some of those funds should go to social service programs. Should some police funding be redirected to programs that help prevent crime?
Brandon Whipple: While the Wichita Police Department has received increased funding during my term as mayor, those investments are focused on providing better services to the community. For example, a large investment was made to expand our mental health response teams so our police officers can call upon trained mental health professionals to respond to a crisis situation.
During my term as mayor, we not only increased police funding, we also made record investments in social services. My favorite program is our coordinated care teams that are made up of a housing specialist, a social worker, and a peer support specialist. These teams provide individualized outreach by actively engaging those in need and working to connect them to the specific resources they need to get housing and back on their feet.
Lily Wu: Both crime and homelessness have increased over the last four years, despite increased funding and a mayor with ‘a plan to lower our crime rate and address our public safety issues.’ Crime prevention and reduction is the goal, but we must first address the police staffing crisis. This starts with restoring the severed relationship between the mayor’s office and local law enforcement, which doesn’t cost anything.
Local non-profits offer a variety of social service programs to address mental health, addiction, and housing that need our community support. The City currently allocates $2.9 million for Community Development Block Grants which fund youth crime prevention programs like the Greater Wichita YMCA’s ‘Middle School After School Program.’ More community members should voice their opinion on a new five-year Consolidated Planning process, on which the City is currently seeking feedback at surveymonkey.com/r/WichitaNeeds.
The City recently re-sold land around the new ballpark for its original price – a dollar an acre. Should the City create safeguards to make sure taxpayers are treated fairly in development deals?
Brandon Whipple: Prior to being elected mayor, the City Council approved a development agreement for the land around the baseball stadium that requires the City to pay back STAR bonds. While I didn’t support the original agreement as drafted, when elected mayor, I knew that in order to protect the taxpayers, we had to make this development successful.
I’m proud of the deal that we made to continue the development without further delay. Without this amended agreement, the City would be in litigation, costing the taxpayers millions of dollars. The amended deal provides clear timelines and expectations that were ambiguous in the first agreement. It also replaced the commercial office space in the original plan with housing, a much better fit for the current needs of our community.
The City must plan for the worst when drafting development agreements. For too long, agreements did not include strong clawbacks or protections. We should always take opportunities for economic growth and development, but craft deals that protect the taxpayers if something goes wrong.
Lily Wu: Riverfront Stadium was another crony deal between career politicians and insiders. It was billed as a catalyst for development, but then we were told attracting a team required giving away land. Now, with a stadium and team, and developers who didn’t perform, we give away the land yet again.
Taxpayers should know the stadium was financed in part with bonds, requiring sales taxes from the development to repay those bonds, instead of going toward roads and public safety. Both Americans for Prosperity and Celeste Racette have been vocal about this. With time lost, no development, and taxpayers on the hook, our City was backed into a corner.
Incentives can play a healthy role in economic development, but Wichita has a poor track record. I will only support necessary incentives that are transparent, represent a good investment for taxpayers, and hold recipients/developers accountable.
Housing costs continue to rise in Wichita and elsewhere. What should the City’s role be in providing and developing affordable housing for its residents?
Brandon Whipple: As mayor, it is top priority for me to maintain an affordable cost of living in Wichita. One of the proven ways to reduce inflation and housing costs is to increase the housing supply. Over the last several years, the City has collected a lot of data about our housing needs and now it is time to turn those studies into action.
In order to increase our housing supply as fast as possible, the City must create multiple opportunities for investment. We are working on a program for homeowners to rehabilitate existing homes in our core and get them back on the market. The post-pandemic economy has created an opportunity for the City to convert our unused commercial buildings into residential units. If we want to make a dent in our housing deficit, we need to get creative and take advantage of all opportunities available as quickly as possible.
Lily Wu: Affordable housing is largely a supply and demand imbalance, which costs everyone. Housing shortage estimates range from approximately 20,000 to 50,000 housing units. We need to encourage more housing at more accessible price points. But first, our city must be a safe and attractive place to invest, which is another reason why my top priority is ensuring public safety.
We need to review City code to identify and ease any exclusionary zoning, which limits new supply and drives up prices. The City should also limit red tape and associated fees for builders, who are focused on building more affordable housing, especially for infill development. Bottom line is that Wichita needs more housing, so we should encourage more builders and non-profits, like Habitat for Humanity and Mennonite Housing, to continue investing and building in our community.
