Incumbent Sedgwick County Commissioner Sarah Lopez lost her race to former Wichita City Council member Jeff Blubaugh for the District 2 seat on Tuesday.
Her loss flips the lone Democrat seat on the commission, meaning all five positions are now held by Republicans.
Blubaugh said his priorities are to lower property taxes and represent his constituents.
“Mostly the property taxes and just making sure that I’m a good advocate for the district,” he said Tuesday night. “They want good infrastructure. They want their streets and roads taken care of, and they want to ensure that we don’t raise their property taxes.”
District 2 covers southwest Wichita, Haysville, Clearwater and other parts of south Sedgwick County.
Lopez was first elected in 2020 by a slim margin in her first run for public office. Before taking office, she was a regional manager for health care technology for Ascension Via Christi.
Blubaugh, a Republican, previously served on the Wichita City Council in 2013. He was also elected to the Goddard School Board in 2011. Currently, he is the owner of a real estate company.
In her current term, Lopez has led a committee that developed a $104 million regional mental health hospital in Sedgwick County, to be built by the county and run by the state. She also has been part of the effort to expand COMCARE crisis services and lower the property tax mill levy. She also voted in favor of investing in Exploration Place’s expansion.
While on the City Council, Blubaugh voted against a highly-contested downtown parking plan, later stating that he thought that the plan would have been a “cash grab” for a third party rather than ultimately benefit the city. He’s also currently campaigning on further lowering the mill levy for the county, property tax relief and improving public safety via law enforcement and firefighters.
Blubaugh told KMUW that District 2 voters trust him, pointing to years of successful elections.
“The folks down south … re-elected me three times on the Wichita City Council. I was on the Goddard school board prior to that. They know me, and they know that I’ll work hard for the district,” he said.
Lopez and Blubaugh had collected an array of endorsements.
Lopez had three former county commissioner endorsements: Tom Winters and Dave Unruh, both Republicans, and Tim Norton, a Democrat. She was backed by the Realtors of South Central Kansas, Wichita Area Builders Association and the Wichita Regional Chamber PAC. Current Sedgwick County Commissioner David Dennis, a Republican, also endorsed her.
Blubaugh was endorsed by local Republican Congressman Ron Estes, the current Speaker of the Kansas House, Dan Hawkins, the Fraternal Order of the Police and Kansans for Life, an anti-abortion PAC.
Blubaugh has borne some media attention outside of his policy positions.
Last week, KAKE News confirmed that the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office and district attorney are investigating Blubaugh’s wife for electioneering, after she wore a T-shirt with Blubaugh’s name on it to vote.
Stephanie Wise beat Democrat Celeste Racette by a wide margin in the District 3 race
Republican Stephanie Wise will serve as the commissioner for Sedgwick County’s District 3, starting in January.
Wise, a commercial real estate agent, garnered 67% of the vote over her Democratic opponent Celeste Racette, a former fraud investigator and bank regulator.
District 3 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, did not seek reelection.
Wise’s win will ensure the deep-red district will continue to be represented by a conservative voice. And she’ll serve on a commission made up of five Republicans, given that the lone Democrat on the commission – Sarah Lopez – lost her reelection bid.
“It's going to be a different leadership makeup there, and I think that we can make some really big things happen together,” Wise said.
Wise says her first priority once she gets in office is tax reform. Sitting commissioners have put forward several plans to stop funding “quality of life” services – arts, culture and recreation – with property tax. One proposes a new sales tax to pay for quality of life services, while another suggests using an existing sales tax.
Wise wants to see the county explore those proposals, though she has yet to throw her support behind a specific one.
“We talk about reform and the ‘quality of life’ being separate from core functions. I'm really interested in making sure that conversation gets started,” Wise said.
Wise is the vice president of commercial real estate at Street Commercial. During the campaign, Racette continuously attacked Wise as unable to give 100% of her efforts to the county commission due to her job in real estate.
“That's a conflict of interest because she'll be appointing people to zoning boards. She'll be voting on development,” Racette said. “All of these deals she's been making and could be making is a conflict of interest.
Wise has said that she plans to “step back” from her job as a broker while on the county commission, but she plans to keep her broker’s license. Because she technically works as an independent contractor, Wise added that she can work “as much or little as I have time for” after she begins at the county commission.
“The commission will have 100% of my attention that is required,” Wise said. “There's no question about that.”
In an interview with The Wichita Eagle, Wise also said she would recuse herself from votes that could be a conflict of interest.
Wise raised nearly $60,000 in the general election, about twice as much as Racette. She received a significant number of contributions from people or companies involved in real estate and development. That included five $500 donations from LLCs affiliated with developers Johnny Stevens and 10 $500 donations from LLCs owned by Jay Russell. In the primary, Russell funded a Republican opponent who ran against Wise.
Wise also raised about $57,600 during her primary campaign, compared to Racette’s approximately $17,000.
Wise was also endorsed by Kansans for Life, Republican Congressman Ron Estes, attorney general Kris Kobach and Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter. Several Christian activist groups also endorsed Wise, including Kansas Family Voice and Culture Shield.
Racette’s donors included several unions – including the Building and Construction Trades, the Wichita and Hutchinson Labor Federation, and the Teamsters Union Local 795. She was also supported by the Common Fiscal Sense Coalition, a PAC that formed in June 2024 for “fiscal responsibility in government.” Its largest donation was $20,000 from Sandlian Realty, a real estate development company.
Racette said she appreciated the bipartisan support her campaign received.
“There were a lot of Republicans that called me, that had faith in me, that knew the work I had done with Save Century II, and trusted me to do and work hard in their best interest,” Racette said. “So, that was very affirming.”
Racette demurred as to whether she will run for another office in the future. She ran for Wichita mayor last year.
“I'm taking a break after the election to go see my grandchildren,” Racette said.
