Independence voters choose top picks in mayoral, council primary. See the winners
With a crowded April election approaching, Independence residents have made their first choices about whom they want to see lead their city for the next four years.
Kevin King and current City Councilperson Bridget McCandless won Tuesday’s mayoral primary election in the city with 25.7% and 42.6% of the vote, respectively, according to unofficial results from the Jackson County Election Board. They will face off for the mayoral seat on April 7.
Four City Council candidates also saw success in Tuesday’s primary. Cody Atkinson, Jackie Dorman, Jared Fears and Lucy Young secured enough votes to make it on the April 7 ballot, when voters will elect two new or returning at-large members to the six-seat municipal body.
The fifth council candidate, Charline Gray, was knocked out of the running Tuesday night with 12.46% of the vote.
Voters will choose between McCandless and King for mayor after awarding the pair more than two-thirds of the total votes in the primary, per unofficial results.
McCandless, a doctor and a current at-large member of the City Council, joined the council after a special election in 2022. The Independence native is known for frequently being outspoken at civic meetings and has also served on the American College of Physicians Health and Public Policy Committee, the Missouri Medicaid Oversight Committee, the Missouri Women’s Health Policy Council and the board of the Truman Library Institute.
King, also a lifelong Independence resident, was the only mayoral primary candidate who is not a current or previous Independence city councilperson. King was previously the business manager for Roofers Local 20, an eastern Jackson County trade union, and has coached for multiple youth sports leagues around the city.
Mike Huff and Brice Stewart entered the mayoral primary but will not move on to the general election, earning about 21.9% and 9.8% of votes, respectively.
Independence native Huff was on the Independence City Council from 2018 to 2022, when he lost his seat to McCandless. Huff previously worked at Independence Power & Light for 35 years, starting as a lineman and ultimately moving into an executive management role.
Stewart has represented Independence’s Second District on the City Council since 2020. The Caldwell County native has a background in law enforcement leadership and has worked for Jackson County since 2006, where he is currently a systems analyst.
Voter turnout was low Tuesday night, with about 11.5% of residents casting ballots across 29 precincts.
Current Independence Mayor Rory Rowland, a former Missouri state representative, was elected by a landslide vote in 2022.
Two seats on the Independence School District Board of Education are also up for grabs on April 7, with four new candidates — Justin Durham, Zac Harmon-McLaughlin, Jeff Jewell and Sarah Wimberley — hoping to join the body.
Tuesday’s primary — and the upcoming slate of April elections — come at a time marked by multiple significant changes and vacancies in the Independence municipal government. Along with the expected mayoral, council and school board successions, Independence welcomed an interim police chief and a new school superintendent within the past six months.
Whomever is elected Independence’s next mayor will take over leadership of the ongoing search for a new permanent police chief.