How did Wyandotte County neighborhoods vote for their next mayor? See the map
Voters in Wyandotte County’s northeast corner overwhelmingly chose Christal Watson as the person they wanted to lead their local government. And, in parts of the county where her competition beat her, she often trailed closely behind.
Watson, who voters elected over her opponent Rose Mulvany Henry in the Nov. 4 election, will be sworn in as mayor/CEO of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, on Dec. 15.
She will replace outgoing Mayor Tyrone Garner, whom the county elected in 2021.
So, who in Wyandotte elected her?
Final election results published by the Wyandotte County Election Office show 9,694 people voted for Watson, director of a local public schools foundation, and 8,194 voted for Mulvany Henry, a local attorney and member of the Board of Public Utilities.
Precinct-level data show Watson beat Mulvany Henry in about 80, or more than half, of the county’s roughly 140 precincts. Some precincts not included in that data had 0% turnout, didn’t have recorded election results or only cast write-in ballots.
Of those 80 precincts, many were located in northeast KCK, where Watson won every precinct, according to election results. She also won in Victory Hills, in central Wyandotte, and out west near the Kansas Speedway.
Mulvany Henry solidly won the northwest and southwest corners of Wyandotte County, which include KCK’s Piper neighborhood, Bonner Springs and Edwardsville.
Voters in the southeast corner, which includes the Turner, Argentine and Rosedale neighborhoods varied, although Mulvany Henry had a strong presence in the area.
One precinct, located near Turner, tied — each candidate had 112 votes. Precinct ties happen every so often in local elections, according to the county election office.
More people voted for the top two candidates in this year’s election than they did last time they chose a mayor. About 17,888 voted for either Watson or Mulvany Henry in the general election. Back in 2021, when Garner defeated incumbent David Alvey, 16,664 people voted for one of the two.
Mulvany Henry had the most votes from a single precinct out in Piper, where she had 346. In that same precinct, Watson had 236. The widest lead she took was in a precinct just south of the county fairgrounds, where she bested Watson by 160 votes.
Frank Ramirez, a spokesperson for Watson and her campaign manager, told The Star he credited Watson’s success to her “ground game,” adding she and her team met with people countywide to find out what mattered most to them and altered her platform accordingly.
This included meeting with residents out west, where Watson may have had lower chances of winning, Ramirez said. Social media and constant calls to residents also helped, he said. In the northeast, Watson utilized her social network and bonded with local churches, he said.
“We did what Jesus did, we traveled regularly to every corner of the city and listened to people’s concerns, and then modeled our campaign to solve the concerns that people expressed,” according to a written statement from Watson that Ramirez submitted to The Star. “It’s amazing what happens when you focus on showing up for people and putting forth the effort to meet their needs.”
Helena Buchmann, Mulvany Henry’s campaign manager, told The Star that precinct-level results reflected what they saw on election night.
“Rose maintained her strong primary performance in key areas of the county, but ultimately, the majority of Wyandotte County voters who chose to vote in this election chose a different path for leadership,” Buchmann wrote in a statement.
