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Nine mayoral candidates and eight city council candidates have filed to run in the 2019 elections in Wichita, Kansas. A primary for the mayoral race is scheduled for August 6. The general election is on November 5. The filing deadline was June 3.

 

Wichita’s current mayor, Jeff Longwell, filed for re-election. He is facing eight challengers, including state Rep. Brandon Whipple (D), in the primary. Longwell became mayor in 2015 after serving on the Wichita City Council from 2007 to 2015. He was elected in 2015 with 60% percent of the vote.

 

Three of the six seats on the city council—Districts 2, 4, and 5—are also on the ballot in 2019. The primaries for the three races were canceled due to an insufficient number of filed candidates. A primary is held only if four or more candidates file in a certain district. The races are on the November 5 ballot. District 2 incumbent Becky Tuttle is running for re-election against former state Rep. Joseph Scapa and Rodney Wren. District 4 incumbent Jeff Blubaugh is facing Beckie Jenek and Christopher Parisho in the general election, and District 5 incumbent Bryan Frye is competing against challenger Mike Magness.

 

The mayor and city council members each serve four-year terms and are limited to two consecutive terms (eight years) in office.

 

Wichita is the largest city in Kansas and the 48th-largest city in the U.S. by population. In 2019, Ballotpedia is covering elections in 59 of America’s 100 largest cities by population. In addition to the cities, Ballotpedia is also covering elections in 23 counties across 11 states.

 

Ballotpedia is covering elections in five Kansas school districts in 2019: Circle USD 375, Goddard USD 265, Haysville USD 261, Maize USD 266, and Wichita Public Schools. The filing deadline for these elections was June 3, 2019. Four districts canceled their primaries after two or fewer candidates filed per seat up for election. Wichita Public Schools is scheduled to hold a primary on August 6 for one seat. All districts will hold general elections on November 5.

 

Three of seven seats are up for election in Wichita Public Schools; these consist of two by-district seats and one at-large seat. The district holds primaries if three or more candidates file per seat. The by-district seats do not require a primary, but four candidates filed for the at-large seat. All three incumbents filed for re-election. The District 3 incumbent is the only Wichita school board member who is unopposed in her bid for re-election.

 

Four of seven seats are up for election in Circle USD 375; these consist of three by-district seats and one at-large seat. Two incumbents filed for re-election. Each of the races only drew one candidate, so two newcomers will be sworn in following the election.

 

Goddard USD 265 has four of seven at-large seats up for election. Five candidates filed for election, including three incumbents. This means the district is guaranteed at least one newcomer on the board.

 

Five of seven at-large seats are up for election in Haysville USD 261; four are up for regular election and one is for an unexpired term. A total of seven candidates filed for the four seats up for regular election and one candidate is running for the unexpired term. Three incumbents filed for re-election, meaning the board will see a minimum of two newcomers.

 

Maize USD 266 has three by-district seats and one at-large seat up for election. There are seven seats on the board. Three incumbents filed for re-election. Two incumbents face challengers, but the at-large incumbent is unopposed in his bid for re-election. The open by-district seat drew two candidates. At least one newcomer will be elected to the board.

 

These five Kansas school districts served a combined total of 71,240 students during the 2016-2017 school year.

 

An effort to recall three of the five members of the Antelope Valley Union High School District Board of Trustees in California was approved to circulate petitions on June 3. Board President Robert Davis, Vice President Victoria Ruffin, and Clerk Amanda Parrell were targeted for recall due to allegations of excessive, unnecessary, and duplicative expenditures, troubling contracts with friends and associates, a failure to support student families, and a lack of respect toward members of the community, according to the notice of intent to recall filed with the county. To get the recall on the ballot, supporters must submit petitions to the county by October 1. Davis’ petition requires 7,964 signatures, Ruffin’s requires 7,388 signatures, and Parrell’s requires 6,833 signatures.

 

In response to the recall, Davis said that the board had a new vision for the district and that change was hard to accept. He said he believed the board was on the right track. Ruffin said, “When we’re doing the hard work in social justice and we’re doing the hard work of being equity warriors, it does mean that people get an opportunity to look at your ways and your practices. […] I can understand why that would be something that is scary.”

 

Ruffin and Parrell were first elected to the board on November 6, 2018, in the school district’s first by-district election. Prior to that, elections were held at large. Davis was first elected to the board on November 3, 2015.

 

In 2018, Ballotpedia covered a total of 206 recall efforts against 299 elected officials. Of the 123 officials whose recalls made it to the ballot, 77 were recalled for a rate of 62.6%. That was higher than the 56.9% rate and 56.3% rate for 2017 and 2016 recalls, respectively.

 

 

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock defeated development consultant Jamie Giellis to win a third term Tuesday. At the time of Giellis’ concession, Hancock had received 55.6% of the vote to Giellis’ 44.4%. Giellis and Hancock were the top two finishers among a six-candidate field on the May 7 general election ballot. Since neither received a majority of the vote, the two advanced to a runoff.

 

A central issue in the election was the city government’s response to a decade of rapid population growth and large-scale development. Hancock said that he supported the Denveright plan, which charted a path forward for Denver to continue growing at its current rate through 2040. Giellis, on the other hand, said that Denver had not taken residents’ needs into account when planning new development and said she would increase neighborhood-level control over development.

 

Hancock was first elected in 2011 after serving seven years on the city council. He won re-election in 2015 with just over 80% of the vote. He said that his third-term policy objectives would include establishing a municipal department of transportation and increasing the minimum wage for city employees to $15 per hour. Hancock was endorsed by The Denver Post, former mayors Wellington Webb and Bill Vidal, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D), and presidential candidates Michael Bennet (D), Pete Buttigieg (D), and John Hickenlooper (D).

 

Giellis is a former board member of the International Downtown Association and served as president of the River North Art District before launching her campaign. She said that her masters’ degree in public administration and her experience with urban design made her more qualified to manage growth. She supported opening a municipal planning office in every neighborhood and increasing city spending on affordable housing to $1 billion over the course of the next decade. Her endorsers included former Gov. Dick Lamm (D) and general election candidates Lisa Calderón and Penfield Tate. Giellis, Calderón, and Tate received a combined 58.1% of the vote to Hancock’s 38.7% in the first round of voting.

 

Although the election was officially nonpartisan, both Hancock and Giellis are members of the Democratic Party.

 

More than 200,000 Los Angeles residents will have more than 15 candidates to choose from in a city council special election on Tuesday.

 

In California, the District 12 seat on the Los Angeles City Council and the Ward 1, 3, 5, and 7 seats on the Riverside City Council are up for election on June 4. The Los Angeles race is a special primary for a vacant seat, while the Riverside contests are their regularly scheduled general elections. In both cities, the council seats can be won outright on Tuesday if one candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote. If none do, then Los Angeles is holding its special general election on August 13, and Riverside is holding its general runoff on November 5.

 

The District 12 seat in Los Angeles was vacated by Mitchell Englander, who resigned on December 31, 2018, in order to work in government affairs for the Oak View Group. Englander, the only Republican on the council, was first elected in 2011 and left office during his second term. Fifteen candidates are running for the remainder of his term in the special nonpartisan primary. The Los Angeles City Council has 15 members.

 

Riverside is holding an all-mail nonpartisan general election for the four city council seats. Only the Ward 1 incumbent, Mike Gardner, is running for re-election, and he faces two challengers. The other three elections are for open seats and feature between three and seven candidates each. The Riverside City Council has seven members, which means that a majority of the council could be new members following the election. The winners this year will receive an extended five-year term in office instead of four-year terms. This is due to the city’s transition to holding elections in even-numbered years beginning in 2022. Consequently, the Ward 1, 3, 5, and 7 seats will be on the ballot next in 2024 instead of 2023.

 

Los Angeles is the largest city in California and the second-largest city in the U.S. by population, while Riverside is the 12th-largest city in the state and the 58th-largest city nationwide.

 

Four mayoral candidates and eight city council candidates filed to run in the 2019 city elections in Tucson, Arizona. A primary is scheduled for August 27, and the general election is on November 5. The filing deadline was May 29.

 

Three of the four mayoral candidates—Randi Dorman, Steve Farley, and Regina Romero—will compete in the Democratic primary. The fourth candidate, independent Edward Ackerley, will face the Democratic primary winner on the general election ballot. Incumbent Jonathan Rothschild announced in December 2018 that he would not seek re-election, ensuring a newcomer will take the office. Rothschild was first elected mayor in 2011 and re-elected in 2015.

 

Three of the six seats on the city council—Wards 1, 2, and 4—are also on the ballot in 2019. Ward 1 incumbent Regina Romero is running for mayor instead of for re-election. Four Democrats filed to run for her seat. In Ward 2, Democratic incumbent Paul Cunningham is running for re-election against Republican Ewart Williams Jr. Ward 4 incumbent Shirley Scott did not file to run for re-election. Democrat Nikki Lee and Republican Michael Hicks are running for that open seat.

 

Tucson is the second-largest city in Arizona and the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. by population.

 

Denver is holding runoff elections on June 4 for seven nonpartisan seats after no candidate received a majority of the vote in the general election on May 7. On the ballot are mayor, five of 13 city council seats, and the city clerk and recorder position.

 

In the mayoral race, incumbent Michael Hancock faces Jamie Giellis. The candidates advanced from a six-way race with 38.7% and 24.9% of the vote, respectively. Hancock was last up for re-election in 2015, when he received 80.2% of the vote in the general election.

 

City Council Districts 1, 3, 5, 9, and 10 also advanced to the runoff election. The District 1 and District 3 seats are both open; incumbents in Districts 5, 9, and 10 are all seeking re-election and advanced to the runoff. By comparison, a total of four city council seats advanced to runoff races in 2015 and all four were open. That year, seven incumbents sought re-election. In 2019, 11 incumbents filed for re-election.

 

The city clerk and recorder runoff election features City Council District 3 incumbent Paul López and Peg Perl. Incumbent Debra Johnson did not file for re-election. López received 36.2% of the vote, and Perl received 32.6% of the vote. They advanced from a three-way general election race.

 

Denver is the largest city in Colorado and the 22nd-largest city in the U.S. by population.

 

Early voting for the June 8 runoff elections in Dallas, Texas, began on Tuesday, May 28. The final day of early voting is Tuesday, June 4. Nonpartisan runoff elections are being held for mayor and for city council districts 4, 7, 9, and 14.

 

District 1 City Councilman Scott Griggs and state Rep. Eric Johnson (D) are running in the mayoral race. Incumbent Mayor Mike Rawlings, in office since 2011, was prevented by term limits from seeking re-election. Griggs and Johnson say their respective experience on the council and in the state House equip them to build consensus on the city council.

 

Dallas uses a council-manager form of government in which the mayor serves as a member of the city council along with 14 elected council members. The council appoints a chief executive called a city manager to oversee day-to-day municipal operations. The mayor appoints city council committee members and chairs, determines what policy-related agenda items will be considered by the council, and makes policy and budget recommendations.

 

Griggs lists among his accomplishments on the city council his role in passing pay increases for police officers and economic growth in the neighborhood he represents. Johnson says he has a record of working across the aisle in the state House to increase affordable housing and for full-day pre-K.

 

Dallas is the ninth-largest city in the U.S., with a population of 1.3 million.

 

Additional reading:

Prospective candidates for mayor and city council in Wichita, Kansas, have until June 3 to file to run in the nonpartisan races. A primary will be held on August 6 for any races where three or more candidates file. The general election is scheduled for November 5.

 

The mayor and city council members each serve four-year terms and are limited to two consecutive terms (eight years) in office.

 

Wichita’s current mayor, Jeff Longwell, has filed for re-election. Longwell became mayor in 2015 after serving on the Wichita City Council from 2007 to 2015. As of May 28, three additional candidates, had also filed for the mayoral election.

 

Three Wichita City Council seats are on the ballot in 2019. District 2 incumbent Becky Tuttle, District 4 incumbent Jeff Blubaugh, and District 5 incumbent Bryan Frye have all filed for re-election. As of May 28, the candidate list showed no opponents had filed to run against any of the three incumbents.

 

Wichita is the largest city in Kansas and the 48th-largest city in the U.S. by population. In 2019, Ballotpedia is covering elections in 59 of America’s 100 largest cities by population. In addition to the cities, Ballotpedia is also covering elections in 23 counties across 11 states.