City Council member Bryan Frye launches bid to become the next mayor of Wichita

Wichita City Council member Bryan Frye will challenge Brandon Whipple and a deep field of candidates in the 2023 mayoral election.

“Wichita can be that next leading city, full of vibrancy and possibility. And we’ll do it with compassion, fairness, grit and forward thinking that has all neighborhoods represented,” Frye said to supporters gathered for his campaign kickoff at Soteria Technology Solutions, an IT firm that he co-founded in 2020.

Frye succeeded Jeff Longwell in northwest Wichita’s District 5 seat in 2015, the year Longwell was elected mayor. He can’t run for the council seat again because of term limits.

Longwell, who was defeated by Whipple in 2019, attended Frye’s announcement Thursday and said the two-term council member has his full support.

“I think he’d be a fantastic mayor,” Longwell said.

“He’s done a great job everywhere he’s been. He’s smart, he’s empathetic, compassionate. I think you need all of those traits, and he cares deeply about Wichita.”

The event was attended by roughly 60 people, including City Council members Becky Tuttle and Jeff Blubaugh and Sedgwick County Commissioner David Dennis.

“We’re on the verge of some amazing opportunities with high-tech manufacturing, cyber security, health care and education. I don’t think Wichita’s future has ever been brighter,” Frye said.

“But I’m also worried for Wichita,” he continued. “Worried that there are too many that do not feel the same way about our city that I do. Worried that we’re not acting fast enough on the things that matter and affect Wichitans every day.”

Frye also serves as senior director of investor relations for the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, a pro-business group that’s influential in state politics. He told a reporter Thursday that if elected mayor, he would give up that position.

“I don’t believe a mayor of Wichita can truly serve the citizens, their neighbors, if they’ve got other employers that they’re working for,” he said.

Before getting into politics, Frye worked for 25 years in marketing for local television news stations.

His first run for city office was an unsuccessful bid for the District 5 seat in 2007, where he finished in fifth place behind a crowded field of candidates that included Longwell, Dennis and Paul Tobia. In 2015 and 2019, he defeated Gary Bond, who has filed to run for the seat this year, and Mike Magness.

Frye has set the stage for a showdown with Whipple. He filed an ethics complaint in March 2022 alleging that the mayor exercised undue influence over the hiring process that named his former campaign manager assistant to the mayor. Whipple denies the allegation and maintains that it was politically motivated.

He and Whipple have openly sparred at council meetings over COVID-19 policies, the city budget, proposals to privatize the city’s golf system and Century II, marijuana decriminalization and a nondiscrimination ordinance.

Frye said Thursday that he wants to keep his campaign civil.

“I’ve ran both of my previous campaigns on the high road and I believe that’s the way to do it,” Frye said. “I think that’s what voters want. They want authenticity. They’re tired of the negative stuff. They’re tired of the back and forth. I’ll contrast how I am versus my opponents but I’m not going to get down in the gutter.”

Frye has been a vocal critic of former Wichita Police Chief Gordon Ramsay and his leadership team over a threatened lawsuit seeking $2.5 million and the resignation of City Manager Robert Layton.

Frye defended Layton over the accusation that he worked to thwart Ramsay’s leadership, characterizing the litigation as “the definition of extortion” and calling on Deputy Chiefs Chet Pinkston and Jose Salcido to resign. They responded by adding Frye to the complaint on the grounds of slander and retaliation.

Supporter Bob Aldrich said he’s confident Frye can restore the relationship between the Wichita Police Department and City Hall.

“There’s conflict between our law enforcement and the mayor’s office and I think that’s wrong,” Aldrich said. “Especially in today’s times, we’ve got to protect our citizens first and foremost. I think it’s time for a change.”

Frye is also likely to clash with mayoral candidate Celeste Racette, founder of Save Century II. He has been a supporter of considering a $1 billion Riverfront Legacy Master Plan that called for tearing down Century II and the former downtown library buildings and replacing them with new facilities. He and council member Brandon Johnson testified in Topeka against a bill put forth by Racette that would have required a binding public election before any decisions were made to tear down the historic buildings.

Other candidates who have officially filed to run are environmental specialist Julie Rose Stroud and IT professional Anthony Gallardo. Former City Council member Jared Cerullo plans to get his name on the ballot by collecting at least 100 signatures rather than pay $70 in filing fees.

The primary election is on Aug. 1 and Wichitans will choose their next mayor on Nov. 7.