With the candidate filing deadline now passed, the races for several Wichita city council seats are taking shape – including a crowded field for mayor.
A last-minute filing before Monday’s noon deadline brought the number of people running for Wichita mayor to nine. (Standard compared to previous local primaries, and well below the 15-person mayoral primary in 2003.)
Incumbent Jeff Longwell is seeking a second term as mayor. The other candidates running are:
- Joshua M. Atkinson
- Singer and conductor Brock Booker
- Music educator Ian Demory
- Kansas Coalition for Life founder Mark Gietzen
- U.S. Navy veteran and suicide prevention activist Amy Lyon
- Former mayoral candidate Marty Mork
- Businessman Lyndy Wells
- State Rep. Brandon Whipple
A primary will be held on Aug. 6 to determine which two candidates will move on to the general election in November.
Also up for election this year are three city council seats, all of them contested.
In District 5, incumbent Bryan Frye will face USD 361 teacher Mike Magness in the general election.
In District 2, Becky Tuttle is running for her first full term on the council; she was appointed in January to fill the seat left vacant by Pete Meitzner. Running against Tuttle are educator and former Kansas House candidate Rodney Wren, and former state Rep. Joseph Scapa.
Vice Mayor Jeff Blubaugh is running for a second term representing District 4. He’ll face businesswoman Beckie Jenek and Christopher Parisho, who serves on the board of the Delano Neighborhood Association.
It takes four candidates to trigger a primary for a city election. The three city council races will move straight to the Nov. 5 general election.
This is the third year for local elections to be held in the fall following a 2015 state law change moving them from the spring in an attempt to boost voter turnout.
The deadline to register to vote in the August primary is July 16.
Follow Nadya Faulx on Twitter @NadyaFaulx. To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org.
