Here’s your first look at the crowded field of candidates for Wichita mayor

Wichita Eagle (KS)

June 03-- Jun. 3--Voters in the Aug. 6 primary election will have a long list of choices for Wichita mayor, as eight candidates have stepped forward to challenge incumbent Jeff Longwell.

The group represents a wide variety of business people and political and community activists. They bring a broad range of views on issues including abortion, taxes, bus service, development and redevelopment, fairness and transparency.

The list of challengers solidified at noon Monday, the deadline to file for the race.

These are the candidates:

-- Mayor Jeff Longwell

is running largely on his record that includes overseeing substantial redevelopment of the downtown area and the successful campaign to attract a Major League Baseball affiliated minor league team to Wichita.

Longwell succeeded in getting the New Orleans Baby Cakes, a farm team for the Miami Marlins, to agree to come to Wichita and he spearheaded construction of a $75 million stadium at the corner of Maple and McLean, the former site of Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.

He also touts the use of city financial incentives to spur expansion and job creation at aircraft plants and other industries.

-- Brandon Whipple

is a state representative of a south Wichita-based district and the only sitting office holder to challenge Longwell.

He acknowledges the city has made significant accomplishments downtown, but thinks it is running "on autopilot" and that other areas of town are being shortchanged on public improvements because of a fixation on downtown redevelopment.

-- Lyndy Wells

is the retired public affairs director of Intrust Bank. He serves as chairman on the boards for the Ascension Via Christi Health system and Wichita State University Tech.

In a statement announcing his candidacy, he highlighted mental health and substance abuse as issues needing immediate attention.

"We've seen the heart-wrenching headlines, heard the challenges in our schools, and learned how our health providers struggle to meet increasing demands for care," he said.

-- Amy Lyon

works as a manager in the tax compliance unit at Wolters Kluwer.

A Navy veteran, she is the Kansas director of Operation Zero, a group working to prevent suicide among veterans and active-duty personnel.

She cites transparency and accountability and balancing the needs of all council districts as key issues facing Wichita.

-- Mark Gietzen

is a longtime anti-abortion activist and former chairman of the Sedgwick County Republican Party.

Gietzen is president of the conservative Kansas Republican Assembly and chairman of the Kansas Coalition for Life, the group that organizes the daily protest outside the Trust Women Wichita clinic.

-- Brock Booker

is a community volunteer and former Friends University Singing Quaker.

He wants the city to do more to provide safe and affordable housing for the homeless and people of low to moderate income. He also wants to establish a pilot program to test whether there's a market for Sunday bus service on Wichita Transit.

-- Ian Demory is a musician and Haysville schoolteacher and the public address announcer for the Campus High School Colts football team.

His top issue is launching an arts initiative to "boost the amount of arts and music performance out there."

-- Marty Mork

is a former aircraft worker now disabled, a staunch supporter of President Trump and a perennial candidate who has unsuccessfully run twice for mayor, twice for the Legislature and once for the City Council.

His signature issue is reducing taxes and the size of government. He would deny public contracts to any company that hires illegal immigrants and would instruct police to ignore a recent Supreme Court decision allowing warrantless searches if officers can smell marijuana at the door of a home.

Mork has been convicted twice, in 1992 and 2001, of charges related to marijuana or paraphernalia possession and favors decriminalization.

-- Joshua M. Atkinson

said he's running for mayor because he wants to restructure the school system and use city resources to make sure that all students have access to quality education. He said he hopes to accomplish this by working with the school board and the Legislature.

His ultimate goal is that Wichita become "one of the more futuristic, maybe the (most) futuristic city in the country."

No district primaries

There will not be a primary election for any other Wichita City Council races.

Three council seats are up for grabs -- Districts 2, 4 and 5.

All have incumbents running, although Becky Tuttle in District 2 hasn't had to face an election yet..

County Election Commissioner Tabitha Lehman confirmed that there won't be primaries for the district seats because none of the races fielded more than three candidates.

Instead, those candidates will go straight to the Nov. 5 general election ballot, where the top vote-getter in each race will win the seat, whether or not they receive a majority.

District 2

Tuttle, a former YMCA executive, was appointed to fill the unexpired term of Pete Meitzner in this east Wichita district. Meitzner resigned the seat after he was elected to the Sedgwick County Commission in November.

Running against Tuttle are Joseph Scapa, a former state representative, and Rodney Wren, the debate coach at Collegiate High School and a political commentator.

District 4

Incumbent Jeff Blubaugh, a Realtor, faces a pair of challengers in his southwest Wichita district.

Christopher Parisho is a frequent critic of the City Council who fought against granting business permits to Tight Ends, an "erotic sports bar" that he felt would harm the family atmosphere in the Delano district.

Becky Jenek is an advocate for the local arts and theater community who ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the state Legislature last year.

District 5

Councilman Bryan Frye, a marketing executive with the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, has one challenger.

Mike Magness is a social studies teacher at South High School. He said he has served the public as a teacher for the past 20 years and now wants to serve in an additional capacity as a council member. Also, he wanted voters to have a choice in the election.

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