Kansas town elects new mayor, bringing an end to unusual write-in election

Spring Hill will have a new mayor after an unusual write-in election.

Voters in the growing Johnson and Miami Counties exurb went to the polls Nov. 4 to elect a mayor and some City Council members to fresh terms. But the only candidate for mayor on the ballot, Councilmember Kristin Feeback, announced that she would not take the position if elected.

Feeback said in July that she had accepted a new job that would require her family to relocate from Spring Hill after May 2026, the Johnson County Post reported, meaning she would become ineligible to be mayor. She has become the CEO of Beacon Mental Health, which is based in Kansas City’s Northland.

That prompted two candidates to announce write-in campaigns: Council President Chad Young and planning commission chair Rodolfo Arevalo. Voters had to write their names on the ballot to cast a vote for them.

Unofficial results released Nov. 4 showed that more votes were cast for as write-ins than for Feeback, but the write-in votes still needed to be broken down and counted as part of the official certification of the results.

Johnson County certified the results last week, and Miami County certified them on Monday.

That revealed Young as the winner, and he will be Spring Hill’s next mayor. He received about 53% of votes cast, while Arevalo received about 28% and Feeback received about 15%. About 3% of votes were scattered write-ins.

“I’m truly excited and humbled to serve as your next mayor. Thank you to everyone who wrote my name in, spread the word, and showed up to vote,” Young said on Facebook. “Spring Hill has incredible things ahead, and I’m ready to get to work in this new capacity for our community.”

He will take office in January. That will leave a vacancy on the council for the mayor and council members to fill.