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Mayoral election in Wichita, Kansas (2023)

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← 2019
2023 Wichita elections
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Election dates
Filing deadline: June 1, 2023
Primary election: August 1, 2023
General election: November 7, 2023
Election stats
Offices up: Mayor
Total seats up: 1 (click here for other city elections)
Election type: Nonpartisan
Other municipal elections
U.S. municipal elections, 2023


Lily Wu defeated incumbent Brandon Whipple in the general election for mayor of Wichita, Kansas on November 7, 2023. Both advanced from a field of nine candidates in the city's top two nonpartisan primary on August 1, 2023.

Although the race was officially nonpartisan, Wu—a former Republican—ran as a Libertarian.[1] Whipple, who ran as a Democrat, defeated incumbent Mayor Jeff Longwell (R) in 2019.[2]

Wu was a reporter and news anchor for two Wichita-area television stations for 12 years and also served as a board member for three Wichita-area nonprofit organizations.[3] At her campaign announcement, she said, "Restoring trust in city hall really has to do with a change in leadership. I think what we need right now is a leader and an ambassador, like I mentioned, that helps bring back the trust (between residents and city representatives)."[4]

Whipple was a Democratic state legislator from 2013 to 2020.[5] He said Wichita's most pressing issue was improving public safety. He said, "As Mayor, we must continue to build a safer city. This includes rebuilding trust, investing in programs that address youth violence, domestic violence, human trafficking, and embracing best practices for addressing mental health, substance abuse, and homelessness."[6]

The Wichita Eagle's Chance Swaim and Matthew Kelly wrote that "Political newcomer Lily Wu emerged from the Wichita primary election as the early favorite for the November mayoral election. But Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple said he’s confident he can win re-election...Going into the general election, Wu holds a sizable fundraising advantage over Whipple...That fundraising advantage and outside spending boost are expected to continue during the general election, which historically has about double the turnout of the primary and much higher spending levels by candidates and outside groups."[7]

More voters cast ballots in the 2023 primary than in the two previous primary elections. The Sunflower's Mia Hennen reported that in the primary, "just over 15% of registered Wichita voters cast their ballots, with 41,221 ballots cast out of 268,852 registered voters."[8] In 2019, the number of votes cast in Wichita's mayoral general election increased 116% over that cast in the primary.[9] In 2015, the number of votes cast for mayor in the general election increased 92% over those cast in the primary.[10] Unofficial election results on Nov. 7 showed that a total of 61,810 ballots were cast in the mayoral general election.[11]

The filing deadline for this election was June 1, 2023.

As of September 2023, Democrats held 63 top-100 mayoral offices, Republicans held 25, independents held four, and nonpartisan mayors held six. Two mayors' partisan affiliations were unknown.

Wichita has a council-manager system of government where the elected city council—which includes the mayor and serves as the city's primary legislative body—appoints a chief executive called a city manager to oversee day-to-day municipal operations and implement the council's policy and legislative initiatives.

This page is about the general election for mayor of Wichita, Kansas. For more information about the primary election, click the link below:

Elections

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Candidates and results

General election

General election for Mayor of Wichita

Lily Wu defeated incumbent Brandon Whipple in the general election for Mayor of Wichita on November 7, 2023.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Lily Wu
Lily Wu (Nonpartisan)
 
57.6
 
37,004
Image of Brandon Whipple
Brandon Whipple (Nonpartisan)
 
41.8
 
26,841
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.6
 
415

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 64,260
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Mayor of Wichita

The following candidates ran in the primary for Mayor of Wichita on August 1, 2023.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Lily Wu
Lily Wu (Nonpartisan)
 
30.0
 
12,217
✔
Image of Brandon Whipple
Brandon Whipple (Nonpartisan)
 
24.0
 
9,775
Image of Bryan Frye
Bryan Frye (Nonpartisan)
 
22.3
 
9,070
Image of Celeste Racette
Celeste Racette (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
16.8
 
6,831
Image of Jared Cerullo
Jared Cerullo (Nonpartisan)
 
4.6
 
1,870
Image of Shelia Davis
Shelia Davis (Nonpartisan)
 
0.6
 
254
Image of Julie Rose Stroud
Julie Rose Stroud (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
0.6
 
246
Image of Tom Kane
Tom Kane (Nonpartisan)
 
0.5
 
220
Image of Anthony Gallardo
Anthony Gallardo (Nonpartisan)
 
0.4
 
182

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 40,665
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: Kansas elections, 2023

What's on your ballot?
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August 1, 2023
November 7, 2023

Voting information

What was the voter registration deadline?

  • In-person: October 17, 2023
  • By mail: Postmarked by October 17, 2023
  • Online: October 17, 2023

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

  • In-person: October 31, 2023
  • By mail: Received by October 31, 2023
  • Online: October 31, 2023

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

  • In-person: November 7, 2023
  • By mail: Postmarked by November 7, 2023

Was early voting available to all voters? Yes

What were the early voting start and end dates? October 18, 2023, to November 6, 2023

Were all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, was a photo or non-photo ID required? Photo ID

When were polls open on Election Day? 6:00 AM - 7:00 PM

Candidate comparison

Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Brandon Whipple

Image of Brandon Whipple

WebsiteFacebook

Incumbent: Yes

Political Office: 

Biography:  Whipple received an associate degree from Mount Washington College and bachelor's and master's degrees from Wichita State University. He received a doctorate degree from Franklin Pierce University. His work experience included serving as state legislator and college faculty member.


Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.

Whipple campaigned on his record from his first term, saying on his website: "Under his leadership Wichita is once again the economic leader in the State of Kansas, investment in public safety services, including road maintenance, is at an all-time high...Our local economy is benefiting from increased tourism and investment because Wichita is focused on the future."

Whipple said one of his top priorities was econcominc growth in the city, saying, "Wichita is experiencing momentum and economic growth that’s unprecedented. And I think that we need to finish the job that we started, which means continuing to build upon our progress and just build upon our success."

Whipple said his priorities in a second term would be addressing homlessness and transportation: "I want to bring homelessness down to functional zero. And I want to fix our transportation system because those are two issues that people have been talking about for decades and haven’t been able to get done."

Show sources

Sources: The Wichita Eagle, "Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple files for re-election; lays out second-term priorities," May 31, 2023; Whipple, Mayor for Wichita, "Home," accessed July 3, 2023; LinkedIn, "Dr. Brandon Whipple, Mayor at City of Wichita Kansas," accessed June 30, 2023; 

This information was current as of the candidate's run for Mayor of Wichita in 2023.

Lily Wu

Image of Lily Wu

WebsiteFacebook

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Biography:  Wu received a bachelor's degree from Wichita State University and a master's degree from The University of Hong Kong. Her work experience included working as a reporter and news anchor for two Wichita-area television stations and as a board and steering committee member for several Wichita-area non-profit organizations.


Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.

Wu said public safety would be one of her top priorities, saying, "No Wichitan should be concerned about public safety. We must ensure our law enforcement officers, first responders, and city services connect with the community and have the resources and respect necessary to keep Wichita safe."

Wu said one of her priorities would be to increase communication to residents about the city's government: "When citizens don’t see how their tax dollars are being utilized, trust starts eroding. We need to do, as elected officials, a better job of communicating ‘what is it that city government does?’ ‘How are your tax dollars being used?'"

Wu said that she would reject partisanship in how she campaigned and governed: "All too often, our faith in local government has been weakened by scandals, concerns of corruption and immaturity. We need a refreshing leader who promotes collaboration and protects our hard-earned tax dollars. As mayor, I’ll restore integrity and civility to City Hall."

Show sources

Sources: The Wichita Eagle, "Lily Wu announces run for Wichita mayor, flexes broad coalition of business support," April 3, 2023;The Sunflower, "Former TV reporter and Wichita State alum running for Wichita mayor," April 26, 2023; Lily Wu, All for Wichita, "My Vision for Wichita," accessed July 5, 2023; LinkedIn, "Lily Wu, Candidate, Mayor of Wichita," accessed July 5, 2023

This information was current as of the candidate's run for Mayor of Wichita in 2023.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.


Campaign advertisements

Ballotpedia did not come across any campaign ads while conducting research on this election. If you are aware of any ads that should be included, please email us.

Debates and forums

This section includes links to debates, forums, and other similar events where multiple candidates in this race participated. If you are aware of any debates or forums that should be included, please email us.

Election competitiveness

Polls

See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls

We provide results for polls that are included in polling aggregation from FiveThirtyEight and RealClearPolitics, when available. No polls were available for this election. To notify us of polls published in this election, please email us.

Noteworthy endorsements

This section lists noteworthy endorsements issued in this election, including those made by high-profile individuals and organizations, cross-party endorsements, and endorsements made by newspaper editorial boards. Please note that this list is not exhaustive. If you are aware of endorsements that should be included, please email us.


Noteworthy endorsements
Endorser Nonpartisan Brandon Whipple Nonpartisan Lily Wu
Organizations
Americans for Prosperity - Kansas  source   ✔
Sedgwick County Democratic Party  source ✔  
Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce PAC   ✔

Election spending

Campaign finance

This section contains campaign finance figures from candidates submitted to the Sedgwick County Election Office during 2023.

Mayoral partisanship

See also: Partisanship in United States municipal elections (2023)

Twenty-nine of the 100 largest cities held mayoral elections in 2023. Once mayors elected in 2023 assumed office, Democrats held 63 top-100 mayoral offices, Republicans held 26, Libertarians held one, independents held four, and nonpartisan mayors held four. Two mayors' partisan affiliations were unknown.

The following top 100 cities saw a change in mayoral partisan affiliation in 2023:

See also

Wichita, Kansas Kansas Municipal government Other local coverage
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Seal of Kansas.png
Municipal Government Final.png
Local Politics Image.jpg

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The Wichita Eagle, "Legalize or criminalize? Wichita mayoral candidates split on marijuana reform," June 17, 2023
  2. ↑ The Wichita Eagle, "Local elections are nonpartisan by law. So why is the Republican Party campaigning?" October 25, 2019
  3. ↑ LinkedIn, "Lily Wu, Candidate, Mayor of Wichita," accessed July 5, 2023
  4. ↑ The Wichita Eagle, "Lily Wu announces run for Wichita mayor, flexes broad coalition of business support," April 3, 2023
  5. ↑ LinkedIn, "Dr. Brandon Whipple, Mayor at City of Wichita Kansas," accessed June 30, 2023
  6. ↑ KSN.com, "Brandon Whipple – Wichita mayoral candidate," July 18, 2023
  7. ↑ The Wichita Eagle, "Wu emerges as front-runner in Wichita mayor’s race, but Whipple says he can still win," August 3, 2023
  8. ↑ The Sunflower, "Whipple and Wu advance to general elections in mayoral race," August 2, 2023
  9. ↑ 23,071 votes were cast in the primary and 49,910 were cast in the general.
  10. ↑ 19,519 votes were cast in the primary and 37,522 were cast in the general.
  11. ↑ Sedgwick County, Kansas, "2023 General Election Results, Final Unofficial Election Night Results," accessed November 8, 2023
  12. ↑ Wall Street Journal, "America’s Cities Need Republicans, and I’m Becoming One," September 22, 2023
  13. ↑ City of Wichita, "Government," accessed October 23, 2014
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