Whipple says he’ll make another four years as mayor count. It’s ‘about serving others’

Brandon Whipple likes to tell the story of how he came from New Hampshire to Wichita at 21 on an AmeriCorps service mission that was supposed to last a year.

What usually goes untold is that he would have stayed on the East Coast if not for an injury that kept him from competing in the taekwondo national championship for the first time in years.

“Nothing clears your mind more after a hard day at City Hall than some kid in his 20s trying to throw you on your neck,” said Whipple, 41, who trains twice a week in judo and kickboxing at the Valor studio on south Woodlawn.

His first love is still taekwondo. One of its five tenets is indomitable spirit.

“It means that your strength comes from inside you, not from what others say and do,” Whipple said. Now a seventh-degree black belt, he sees plenty of crossover between politics and Korean martial arts.

“Usually, you hit them as hard as they hit you and if it’s not called for, that type of intensity, then reserve it. Stay in control of yourself.”

This campaign has been a bruising one. Challenger Lily Wu outperformed him with 30% of the vote to his 24% in a nine-candidate primary. But Whipple said it’s no mystery why his detractors are so loud and why a record amount of campaign cash has poured in to bolster his opponent.

Wu says Wichitans want a leader they can be proud of. She’s ready to ‘get back to the basics’

It’s because, in his telling, after four years on the job, he’s still the outsider running for mayor of Wichita.

“When I first was elected mayor, it was very obvious that I was not invited to that party, that I crashed it,” Whipple said.

“Every person who used to have free range of City Hall, the people that we’re now suing under my leadership because they ripped off taxpayers, are backing her. If they were in control of City Hall currently and we needed it to be purged, why would they be backing her?”

Wu, a registered Libertarian, says Whipple has lost people’s support by failing to clean up City Hall and because, after serving seven years as a Democratic state rep, he brought the divisiveness of Topeka politics back to Wichita.

Whipple says the so-called partisan bickering she critiques is transparent government in action: “If it looks messy, it’s supposed to look messy.”

“If you create your own club that is so anti-partisan to the point where you assume that any partisan-type debate, anyone who is arguing conservative viewpoint versus progressive viewpoint, is bickering and you’re just not going to have it, then did you create your own ideology?”

Leading through COVID

COVID-19 struck hard two months after Whipple was sworn in as mayor in 2020, replacing his first-year priorities with urgent new challenges.

That summer, after the Sedgwick County Commission rejected the advice of its own medical officer to impose a mask mandate ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, Whipple called a special meeting. He remembers agonizing over what to do and reaching clarity in conversation with his wife, Chelsea.

“If we do this right and we’re able to actually snuff out the amount of death that we’re projecting, everyone’s going to say, ‘Look, you overreacted. You hurt the economy for no reason.’ But if we do it wrong, people are going to die. Grandma’s going to die, and I can’t have that on my conscience,” he said.

Whipple was in the one-vote majority that authorized a mask order designed to keep already strained hospitals from becoming overrun. When protesters showed up outside their home in the sweltering July heat, the Whipples put out water and a sign welcoming them, and took time to talk to their three boys — AJ, 6; Tristan, 8; and Julian, 10 — about freedom of expression.

That fall, they didn’t tell the boys that the Wichita Police Department cruisers outside their house were there in response to death threats from less gracious critics of the city’s public health response.

“We always said that the position is more important than us, so if he was to run for a position it needed to be because he felt he could offer something, was qualified, and it was about serving others not about gaining a certain title,” Chelsea Whipple said of their philosophy for life and elected office.

“I am incredibly proud of the work Brandon has done. His never-give-up attitude and his care and compassion shines through.”

Wichita received $72.4 million in federal pandemic relief funding. $20 million of that went to support workforce needs, nonprofits and small businesses reeling from the crisis. The rest of the money is being spent on capital improvement projects, including the new Wichita Police Department Patrol East bureau and the roughly $9.5 million multi-agency center that Whipple thinks will help the city reach functional zero homelessness by connecting unsheltered people with the resources they need.

That’s one of his top priorities for a second term, he says, along with modernizing the city’s transit system in collaboration with various public- and private-sector partners.

Whipple drives the long way to work every day, down the south Broadway corridor lined with cheap motels and the overpass where unsheltered Wichitans often congregate.

“It reminds me why I’m going to work,” he said. “Not only for the homeless but also just as a city when it comes to making the lives of people better.”

Diversifying Wichita’s economy

Elected officials and business leaders have been talking about the need to diversify Wichita’s economy both within and beyond the aerospace sector for decades. Whipple said the Boeing 737 MAX grounding and subsequent Spirit AeroSystems layoffs underscored the urgency of that mission.

“Since then, we’ve brought in satellite companies, we’ve brought in Blue Origin, SpaceX — they’re doing contracts now with our folks here in Wichita — and we’ve brought in different industries such as Novacoast, cyber security,” he said.

Semiconductor manufacturer Integra Technologies is building its new plant in Bel Aire, right outside of Wichita, and it’s expected to support 2,500 new jobs.

“We’re thinking bigger than we have in the past. I’m going after global companies now,” Whipple said. “I’m comfortable on the international stage now, being in the room with CEOs, sitting next to the governor, sitting next to Senator Moran talking about Wichita.”

After several years of COVID-induced economic turmoil, Whipple proudly cites the Wichita State Center for Economic Development and Business Research finding that Wichita is now leading the state in growth.

He says several of his first-term achievements, including decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana at the city level and passing an ordinance that prohibits discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations, have made Wichita a more welcoming place.

“It’s a statement of values as well,” Whipple said of the NDO. “It’s a top-three item that businesses that are looking at relocating look for in places they’re relocating because if you want to attract talent, you also have to share the values of the next generation.”

Wu has said she supports the anti-discriminatory protections and would not attempt to remove them or re-criminalize marijuana possession if elected. But Whipple questions whether she would do anything to defend the policies from potential state-level attacks, noting that Wichita Rep. Patrick Penn introduced a bill last session aiming to nullify all local NDOs.

“And you can’t talk about public safety unless you’re also talking about upholding the rights of individuals, including our LGBT and our trans community,” Whipple said.

Former Sedgwick County Commissioner Lacey Cruse, who recently endorsed Whipple for re-election in a Facebook video, said he’s the candidate she trusts to question bad decisions that others might go along with.

“[Wu’s] a nice enough person. She can get along with people. That’s great,” Cruse said. “But will she fight for people in rooms behind closed doors where decisions are status quo unless somebody has the guts to stand up?

“Brandon stands up for people and he stands up against the status quo.”

What does Wichita mayor do?

The mayor of Wichita is paid $113,626 a year. Official responsibilities include running City Council meetings and working alongside the council to establish policy direction, enacting laws and policies, adopting the budget and levying taxes.

“This is a real job. You’re not an ambassador,” Whipple said. “You’re the head legislator of the largest city in the entire state.”

He said what’s happened in the past is that some mayors have treated it more as a figurehead position, deferring to the city manager and leaving the city “on autopilot.”

“The speaker [of the house] leads — sets the agenda and leads the whole process, and I think that’s how he views the mayor as supposed to be the leader and set the agenda and guide how things go,” said Kansas House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer, a Wichita Democrat and one of Whipple’s mentors from his time in the Legislature.

“Even when I first met him, he was very determined,” Sawyer said. That happened to be when Sawyer was up on a ladder painting his house. He remembers Whipple, then a first-term rep, doggedly recruiting him to run for the seat he previously held for 14 years.

“I mean, he didn’t give up. He kept calling and he came over — I’m painting, I’m trying to ignore him. When he puts his mind to something, he’s very persistent and works to try to get it done.”

Whipple’s doctorate degree from Franklin Pierce University is in leadership studies. He thinks of himself as a qualitative research analyst.

“Basically, I listen to people’s experiences and stories and I’m trained to find common variables between experiences so I can pull out problems and use a policy to solve the problem,” he said.

“We’ve got incredible opportunities to have these positive impacts. But you’ve got to get creative with it.”

One such idea Whipple shepherded through the council is a tax relief pilot program that’s set to provide up to $660,000 of property tax refunds on a first-come, first-served basis. Low-income seniors, disabled veterans and their surviving spouses, and low-income residents with underage dependents who can prove they received a tax credit of at least $40 through one of three state programs qualify to have the rest of their tax bill refunded.

“We’re piggybacking off the administrative process at the state level, which means we save like a half a million dollars by having them do all the work,” Whipple said.

He said targeted tax relief rather than across-the-board mill levy reductions is the responsible budgetary approach for the city.

“Who owns the most property? Those are the ones paying the most property tax,” Whipple said. “You lower it a small amount like a mill or a couple mills, they’re the ones getting the majority of it is the richest people and the poorest people, you’re getting like twenty bucks back.”

Whipple and police

One of the major platforms of Whipple’s 2019 campaign was ethics reform at City Hall. After years in formation, the city’s ethics advisory board held its first meeting in 2023.

Whipple was the first official the board found in violation of the ethics policy after he called City Manager Robert Layton during a spat with a Wichita police officer at a neighborhood cleanup last fall.

Wu has called the incident embarrassing and says it demonstrates how the mayor has alienated rank-and-file officers. The Fraternal Order of Police, which endorsed Whipple in his first run, is backing Wu this time.

The city’s police budget has increased by 30% since Whipple took office but Wu says she’s the one who will prioritize additional police spending when the union contract is re-negotiated next year.

“The problem is, the FOP doesn’t want to be held accountable when their members are caught with racist, sexist and borderline sociopathic text messages that embarasses the entirety of our city, that glorifies violence against Black and brown people who were shot at their hands,” Whipple said during an Oct. 24 televised debate. “That’s why I lost the endorsement of the police union — not because I didn’t give them enough money but because I said, ‘Hey, I’m going to make sure that I hold everyone accountable,’ because that’s my job.”

He takes credit for the idea to call in a national law enforcement consulting group to complete a cultural assessment of the Wichita Police Department and recommend reforms. Twenty of Jensen Hughes’ 54 recommendations for the department have already been implemented and another 26 are listed as in-progress on the city’s online dashboard.

Whipple said he would not vote to approve a new FOP contract if it didn’t follow Jensen Hughes’ advice of eliminating a provision that allows officers accused of using excessive force and other wrongdoing to review witness statements and all other evidence against them before sitting for an administrative interview. In the debate, Wu would not commit to the same.

Investing in less affluent parts of Wichita

Whipple shares a hometown with the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” — Dover, New Hampshire. His mother and father are a waitress and a carpenter, respectively, who have never owned a house.

In south Wichita, Brandon and Chelsea Whipple were able to buy their first home in their mid-20s. It was more affordable than anything they could have rented on the East Coast. With a garage and a backyard, he remembers it feeling like a castle.

The south side has long been neglected by a City Hall that prioritizes investment in east and west Wichita, Whipple said. That’s one reason why he bristles at critiques that the 24-court pickleball complex coming to South Lakes next year is a frivolous project.

Other investments in less affluent parts of town focus on infrastructure. This year, public works will spend $1 million paving dirt roads across the city as part of a $31 million 10-year initiative that the mayor lobbied hard for in discussions about budget priorities.

Whipple was recently in north Wichita shooting a promotional video about upcoming paving with Vice Mayor Mike Hoheisel and District 1 council member Brandon Johnson when a man came out of his house and asked what they were doing.

“He told me about how young people, drivers will take that corner too fast and how one car flipped over onto his yard a few years back and how a 5-year-old almost got hit because a car couldn’t stop in time,” Whipple said. “Just talked about this road and how it’s been a nuisance, and he was pretty much shocked that after all these years, we’re going back to fix it.”

Whipple went on to tell the man about a city home repair program he could apply for to get up to $5,000 for roof repairs. He said he wants to find ways to inform more people about the home repair program before their houses are deemed hazardous and come before the City Council for a demolition vote.

He says if voters give him another four years on the job, he’ll make them count.

“If you only focus on the issues that everyone agrees on, you miss a hundred percent of the problems that we face as a community,” Whipple said.

Win or lose, after the campaign is over, he’s going to Korea for several weeks to train with an international delegation of martial artists.