We followed a number of races throughout the primary season, with some of them being decided by the primary vote, since there isn’t anyone running from the position from the opposing party.
So, winners after the primary are:
David Haley, Senate District 4 in Wyandotte County. Haley, the longest-serving member of the Kansas Senate had a serious challenger this time in Ephran Taylor III. Taylor was correct, his youth would have added diversity to the Kansas Senate, but the voters didn’t see it that way, instead choosing to send a well-known and long-term public servant back to Topeka.
Wyandotte County voters went with the familiar in the four-way race for the House District 35 seat. Wyandotte residents seemed fairly unanimous in their desire to replace their current one-term representative, Marvin Robinson, but instead of considering two rather talented younger candidates – Michelle Watley and Kimberly DeWitt, they went with Wanda Brownlee Paige, who currently serves on the Kansas City Kansas Public School Board. Brownlee Paige has served on the school board since 2018 and her current term doesn’t end until 2025.
She joins the list of Wyandotte officials elected to two positions. In addition to his position in the Kansas Senate, Haley has been elected to serve on the Kansas City Board of Public Utilities Board of Directors. Paige’s double-dip will be similar to Valdenia Winn’s, who is an elected member of the KCKPS Board and has served in the Kansas House since 2001.
Other races that were decided in the primary include:
Brooklynne Mosley’s win in a three-race for the House District 46 seat representing Lawrence, KS, means there will be at least one additional African American in the Kansas House since the rest of the African-American incumbents are running unopposed. Mosley, a 10-year Air Force veteran, vice president of mobilization for a political consulting firm, political organizer and campaign operative, earned 67% in her win over two other candidates.
Allison Williamson fell short in her bid to unseat incumbent Judge Jane Sieve Wilson, who has served in the Wyandotte 29th Judicial District Court since 2019. Wilson earned 54.6% of the vote in this two-way race. Jacqueline Kelly will become the only African-American judge serving in the 18th Judicial District Court in Sedgwick County. Sedgwick County judicial races are partisan and the county has a history of only electing Republicans. In fact, 100% of the judges are Republicans, and so, as a Republican candidate, Kelly only had to overcome being Black, something she did in flying colors by earning 38.8% of the vote.
