David Haley says he may be down, but don’t count him out yet in his race to fill an at large seat on the Kansas City Board of Public Utilities. Haley, who has represented Wyandotte County in the Kansas Senate since 2001, was competing for a second elected position but came up just 50 votes short in the Nov. 5 election.
However, with neither he nor his competitor earning 50% of the votes — there were 58 write-in votes – and 200 provisional votes still to be counted, Haley feels strongly he’ll be declared the victor after the provisional votes are counted this Friday.
Haley says provisional votes are often from minority districts, where people often show up at the wrong poll or without their voter ID, and the ballots should skew to his favor.
“I’ve seen vote gaps even larger than this change when provisional votes are counted,” Haley says.
In August, Haley, and his competitor Rose Mulvany Henry advanced to the general election out of a crowded field of six competitors. Haley’s name recognition may have helped but Henry also hails from well-known Wyandotte County roots. Her father Blake Mulvany was principal of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic High School and her surname endeared her to Wyandotte County’s large Catholic population.
In addition, Mulvany closely associated her campaign with Nancy Burns, the popular incumbent candidate for the Wyandotte County Register of Deeds.
Haley, who says he ran a shoestring campaign and was largely outspent by Mulvany, attributes his success in the campaign to his believability, stating he has a history of not forgetting to fight for the issues he campaigned on.
If Haley does prevail after the votes are canvassed, he will not have to resign his position in the Kansas Senate. He will join a list of Wyandotte County officials who hold two elected positions. During this month’s election, Valdenia Winn was reelected to the USD 500 School Board. She has served as a Kansas representative since 2001. KS. Rep Tom Burroughs serves in both the Kansas House and on the Wyandotte County Unified Government Commission and Sheriff Don Ash is also an elected member of the Kansas City Kansas Community College Board of Trustees.
Of course, we’ll keep you posted.
UPDATE 11/23/19 2:45 pm: Rose Mulvany Henry commented on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheCommunityVoice/