Jackson County exec Frank White wins tight primary; fellow Dem loses legislative seat
Jackson County Executive Frank White won renomination Tuesday by beating Stacy Lake in the Democratic primary. It was the closest race out of the seven the former baseball great has run since entering politics eight years ago.
White received 53 percent of the total, with 33,943 votes to Lake’s 29,765.
Normally, he could rest easy at this point in an election year. He hasn’t faced a Republican foe in the general election since his first run for office as a Democrat in 2014, when he won the 1st District at-large seat on the Jackson County Legislature.
But the former Royals star will not only face a challenger from the GOP this fall, but his opponent also has had some success at the polls.
Theresa Galvin, who twice won election to represent the 6th District on the county legislature, gave up her seat to run against White. Part one of that gamble paid off when Galvin finished first in the three-way Republican primary.
She beat Preston Smith, best known for raising questions about the accuracy of the 2019 reassessment of county real estate, and Jason Pearson, who for years worked in the county assessment office and also stressed the need for reforms in how the county values properties for tax purposes.
White’s leadership when it comes to setting property values for tax purposes is sure to come up in the fall campaign, as Galvin has raised concerns about the upcoming 2023 reassessment cycle. She and White have differed on a number of other issues, as well, including what she saw as his administration’s overly cautious approach to controlling the spread of the coronavirus.
Galvin wanted the mask order ended sooner than White did.
It could be an uphill battle for Galvin, however, as no Republican has won a countywide vote for any position in county government for nearly a century.
County legislature races
Whoever wins the top job this the fall will be doing business with a newly constituted county legislature next year. Only four of the nine current members are seeking re-election and only one of them, Republican Jeannie Lauer of the 5th District, is a sure thing because she faced no opposition in the primary and is running unopposed in the general election.
The other three incumbents needed voter approval to continue and one of them fell short on Election Day.
Tuesday saw incumbent Tony Miller lose a three-way Democratic contest to Lee’s Summit school board member Megan Marshall by a wide margin for the 3rd District At-Large seat he has held since 2015. Delmira Quarles came in last. Marshall was backed by the Black political club Freedom Inc. She’ll face Republican challenger Lance Dillenschneider on the November ballot. Dillenschneider ran unopposed in the primary.
Fellow incumbent Democrat Charlie Franklin ran unopposed for the 3rd District seat he won four years ago. Republican April LaJune McGill will take him on in the general election. She also had no primary opponent. Likewise, Jalen Anderson, who currently represents the 1st District At-Large, had no primary opponent. . In the fall, he will face Bill E. Kidd, who won the GOP nomination over Brenda Allen.
Among the most watched races was the one for the open 1st District seat now held by Democrat Scott Burnett, who is retiring after 24 years on the legislature
Manuel “Manny” Abarca IV won the Democratic contest to run in the fall general election. He beat Geoff Gerling and Justice Horn.
The firefighters union political action committee Taxpayers Unlimited had backed Gerling’s effort financially, according to campaign finance records. Gerling quit his job as executive director of the Jackson County Democratic Committee before filing for office.
Abarca, a Kansas City school board member who formerly worked in Democratic congressman Emanuel Cleaver’s district office, raised and spent more cash overall, also with support from organized labor, as well as endorsements from the Freedom Inc. and LaRaza political clubs.
Horn, who rose to prominence during the Black Lives Matters demonstrations in 2020, claimed in his campaign literature that, if elected, he would be “the first out LGBTQ county official in Missouri.”
Abarca will compete in the fall election against Christina McDonough Hunt, who ran unopposed for the Republican nomination in the 1st.
Venessa Huskey and DaRon McGee, a former Missouri state representative and current Hickman Mills school board president, won their Democratic primaries in the 2nd and 4th districts, respectively, thus securing seats on the county legislature because neither has an opponent in the general election.
Huskey beat Lorenzo Johnson and Mitchell W. Sudduth to win the open seat now held by Ronald Finley, who served one term in his second stint as a county legislator and did not seek re-election.
McGee got more votes than Michael Ricardo Brown in the battle to replace Democrat Dan Tarwater, the longest-serving member of the legislature, who is stepping down after 28 years to run for Kansas City Council in 2023.
Another Freedom Inc.-backed candidate, Donna Peyton, won the Democratic contest to fill the 2nd District At-Large seat now held by Democrat Crystal Williams, who is retiring after 12 years. Peyton beat Zac Sweets and Ryan Meyer to face Republican John J. Murphy in the fall. Murphy came in first against former legislator Bob Stringfield in their primary.
Galvin gave up her 6th District seat to run for county executive. Sean Smith won the Republican race to replace her. Coming in second was former Lee’s Summit council member Trish Carlyle. Current Lee’s Summit city council member Phyllis Edson and Roberta Gough came in third and fourth. The winner will face Democrat Amanda Toomey in the general election. Toomey had no primary opponent.
Unlike past years, no third-party candidates filed in any Jackson County race.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the Missouri Democratic Party had contributed to Geoff Gerling. Campaign records rather showed that the Gerling campaign gave to the party.
