Dan Cofran decides not to challenge Sly James for KC mayor in 2015

Former Kansas City Councilman Dan Cofran said Monday that he has decided not to challenge Mayor Sly James in next year’s election.

Cofran, who served on the council from 1987 to 1995, had said in August that he was weighing a run for mayor on a platform of improving basic services, reducing crime and boosting early childhood education.

Cofran was known as a smart councilman and a fiscal watchdog, but a number of political insiders told The Star they had urged Cofran not to run in 2015. They gave him little chance of success against a popular incumbent mayor.

“Unseating an incumbent mayor is a difficult and major undertaking, even when in my opinion a sitting mayor is significantly out of step with taxpayer priorities and expectations for responsible spending,” Cofran said in a statement released Monday.

Cofran said he would concentrate on working with the Citizens Association and other local political groups to recruit and elect independent, critically thinking council members.

The primary is April 7 and the general election is June 23.

This story was originally published October 6, 2014 at 3:47 PM with the headline "Dan Cofran decides not to challenge Sly James for KC mayor in 2015."