Primary election Tuesday will narrow races for four Wyandotte County commission seats
Voters will take to the polls Tuesday for primary elections that will ultimately reshape Wyandotte County’s governing body for the next four years.
Candidates are running to fill five seats on the Unified Government’s 10-person Board of Commissioners. One race has just two candidates, who both will advance to the general election.
Campaigns have centered on issues such as holding down rising property taxes and utility rates, sheltering unhoused people, transparently communicating with constituents and ensuring the UG is financially stable, among other things.
For each race, the top two contenders will advance to the Nov. 7 general election.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.
In District 2, three candidates — Bill Burns, Anna Cole and Patrick Sumner — are vying to fill the seat that will be left by Commissioner Brian McKiernan, who is not seeking re-election. That district includes the Riverview and Armourdale neighborhoods.
Four candidates are running to unseat Commissioner Christian Ramirez, who was elected in 2019 to represent District 3, an area that includes the Rosedale and Argentine neighborhoods. Those challengers are Diana Aguirre, Michael Aguirre, Bette McGill and Tina Medina.
In the race for District 4, which includes the northern part of the Kensington neighborhood, four candidates are hoping to fill the seat that will be left by Commissioner Harold Johnson, who is not running for re-election. They are Brandie Armstrong, Evelyn Hill, Tarence Maddox and Pamela Penn-Hicks.
In the 6th District, which covers south central KCK, Commissioner Angela Markley is not seeking re-election. Philip Lopez, Mary Martin and Steve Neal are running to fill her seat.
On Nov. 7, voters will also choose between At-large District 1 Commissioner Melissa Bynum, who has served on the UG’s board of commissioners since 2015, and challenger Ricky Smith.
Views about Wyandotte County’s future vary among the candidates, but in a questionnaire by The Beacon, a digital news outlet, seven of the 15 candidates answered “yes” when asked if the U.S. Department of Justice should investigate the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department. Not all candidates responded, but of those who did, none answered “no” to the question.
Three seats are also up for election on the Board of Public Utilities, the publicly-owned utility that recently drew ire from residents over increased electric rates. Two of those seats will have primaries on Tuesday. One seat belonged for more than three decades to Robert Milan Sr., who is not seeking re-election.
