Jackson County will enter 2027 with a new executive and seven new legislators after four years marked by property tax disputes, political infighting, a recall and criminal allegations.
Democrat Stacy Lake defeated Republican Alan Rohlfing with approximately 68% of the vote, according to unofficial results. She takes office Jan. 1 alongside a nine-member Legislature returning only Donna Peyton and Venessa Huskey. Democrats will hold eight seats.
Lake’s victory grew from organizing around the county’s troubled property assessment system. After helping neighbors challenge assessments following the 2019 reassessment, she challenged Frank White Jr. in 2022, winning approximately 47% of the Democratic primary vote. White was recalled in September 2025.
This August, her grassroots campaign defeated better-connected contenders in the Democratic primary, including Freedom Inc.-backed former legislator Dan Tarwater III.
The executive race reflected the county’s instability. Interim Executive Phil LeVota filed despite promising not to seek a full term, then withdrew in April. Prosecutors later charged him of offering Legislator DaRon McGee county employment in exchange for abandoning his executive campaign. LeVota denies wrongdoing and is seeking dismissal.
Separately, legislators removed Manny Abarca as chairman in July and replaced him with Peyton.
African-American Representation
The incoming Legislature includes four mature Black women whose professional and community experience could help bring stability to a body marked by controversy. Expectations were also high four years ago, when a new majority coalition that included Manny Abarca promised change. Instead, divisions and leadership struggles repeatedly overshadowed that promise.
Joining returning members Donna Peyton and Venessa Huskey are attorney Carla Fields and retired UMKC vice chancellor Susan B. Wilson.
Wilson is a retired UMKC vice chancellor and clinical psychologist. Wilson is a clinical psychologist and retired UMKC vice chancellor. Fields, 56, brings approximately three decades of legal experience and has served as president of the Jackson County Bar Association. She defeated incumbent Jalen Anderson in the Democratic primary.
McGee’s backed successor, Byron Townsend, will represent the 4th District. The longtime political allies served together on the Hickman Mills school board.
Other Incoming Members of the Legislature
Other newcomers include Democrats Kelly Thompson, replacing Democrat Manny Abarca in the 1st District, and Phyllis Hernandez, succeeding Democrat Charlie Franklin in the 3rd District.
In the two seats currently held by Republicans, Republican Dale Carter will replace retiring Republican Jeanie Lauer in the 5th District. Democrat Tony Lawson will replace Republican Sean Smith in the 6th District, flipping that seat to Democratic control.
Lake’s KC Roots Run Deep
Lake, born in 1987, brings both Kansas City family roots and international experience. Born in Kansas City and raised in Leawood, she attended high school in the Blue Valley district, earned a finance degree from the University of Kansas in 2010 and graduated from UMKC School of Law in 2014.
A former Chinese translator, she studied in Taiwan and interned at a Beijing law firm before returning to Kansas City to practice law.
Her family has deep Kansas roots. Her mother Stacy Myers Battle was a local dentist. Her maternal grandfather, Sere S. Myers, was a pastor and real estate broker; her grandmother operated Classic Touch, the Crown Center floral shop. Her father is an attorney who returned to his home country of Anguilla where he practices law.
Lake is married to Bryan Danaher, a software engineer at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
Her agenda includes an audit, assessment reform, infrastructure improvements and expanded transit. The challenge now is translating new leadership into dependable government and restored public trust.
