Election 2020

KMUW's Engage ICT: Digital Democracy on Tap and Kansas Leadership Center partnered to present One Small Step: Courageous Political Conversations on Tuesday, November 17.

This special collaboration with StoryCorps' One Small Step featured a conversation Dave Isay, the founder of StoryCorps, on the importance of coming together during a divisive time in our history. We also spoke with Wichita's One Small Step participants about how they felt bridging an ideological divide with a stranger.

The tumultuous tenure of Michael O’Donnell on the Sedgwick County Commission has ended.

O’Donnell resigned immediately late Friday afternoon after the District Attorney’s Office released a statement saying it was prepared to initiate ouster proceedings next week.

O’Donnell, a Republican, knocked off a four-term incumbent in 2016 to win his seat. Since he took office, he was indicted on federal charges related to the spending of campaign finance money and became embroiled in a political scandal involving a false attack ad in the 2019 mayoral campaign.

WICHITA, Kansas — Charles Bell usually passes on voting. He’s a Democrat in a Republican state and said, “If I vote, it’s not going to count.”

But after seeing Kansans elect a Democratic governor in 2018, he thought maybe the state was changing. And so this year, for only the second time in his 63 years, he voted, hoping Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden or U.S. Senate candidate Barbara Bollier might be elected.

When voting ended Tuesday night, Sarah Lopez – the Democratic challenger trying to unseat Michael O’Donnell from the Sedgwick County Commission – was losing by nearly 600 ballots.

But a wave of mail-in ballots has now vaulted Lopez into a 125-vote lead.

Preliminary voter turnout numbers in Sedgwick County show more votes were cast in Tuesday's general election than in the 2016 presidential election.

The Sedgwick County Election Office says about 61% of registered voters participated in Tuesday's general election. Officials expect turnout to rise to about 65% once pending mail and provisional ballots are counted. 

Sedgwick County had more than 322,000 registered voters this year — an increase of 28,000 since the 2016 election.

Democrat Stephanie Byers became the first transgender member of the Kansas Legislature Tuesday night.

She’ll represent parts of south Wichita after defeating Republican challenger Cyndi Howerton in the race for Kansas House District 86. Byers received 54% of the vote in her first run for public office.

Byers is a retired band, orchestra and jazz teacher at Wichita North High School. She taught there for nearly 30 years.

She spoke about her transition and how she explained that to her students in an interview with KMUW in May 2019.