Kansas City Mayor Q Election Triumph Redux: Winners & Losers

Part of an insider quote . . .

Mayor Lucas marched into Election Day with more than $1.2M raised this cycle and an impressive $825k cash on hand in his re-election campaign alone.

He probably only needed about 800 bucks to beat Clay Chastain. 

Meanwhile, the morning after . . .

HELP US CALL OUT WINNERS & LOSERS OF THE KANSAS CITY 2023 ELECTION!!!

 More interested in your answers than mine . . . Until then we have a couple of suggestions . . .

WINNERS:

Hartzell . . . Broadcaster for KC Tenants

The politics of the group are silly and sometimes kinda hostile . . . However, playing an activist on the Internets is far more rewarding and we think this might be KC's latest & greatest "likeable" celebrity.

Twitter, Bots & Spam . . .

Again . . . We're kinda suspect about how much this REALLY moved the dial. But most of the election bullying came by way of social media and clearly . . . Paying tech moguls for local democracy is the way of the future for those with the cash & skill.

Dark Money

In the final days of the campaign KC Tenants spent more than $125K and NOBODY KNOWS WHERE IT CAME FROM . . . Moreover . . . 

MANY PROGRESSIVES PROVE THEMSELVES HYPOCRITES FOR COMPLAINING ABOUT GOP DARK MONEY BUT REMAINING SILENT WHEN KC TENANTS SPREADS SECRET CASH!!!

 If it's sketchy when Republicans do it . . . Those same standards should apply to progressives.

Snail Mail

Again . . . Darrell Curls proved that stuffing mail boxes is still a great way to get noticed and deliver messages DIRECTLY to voters. It's a pricey way of doing things but serves as one way to reach past the new social media paywall filter.

LOSERS:

CLAY CHASTAIN

Punchline . . . There's nothing wrong with losing for a good cause and without Mr. Chastain there was only a grad student and a salesman willing to spend the time talking about KC against impossible odds. 

In fact . . .

Chastain hassled the media, brought up uncomfortable topics and provided an ALTERNATIVE discourse for Kansas City.

Clay Chastain was willing to take the loss for KC and that, like it or not, is an act of public service that social media bullies might not understand. 

Credit where it's due . . . Clay performed a thankless job and did it with more flair & skill than so many local empty suits in downtown law offices.

Voter Turnout

Interesting find from preliminary results . . . 

KANSAS CITY VOTER TURNOUT ACTUALLY DROPPED IN THE GENERAL ELECTION!!!

That rarely happens but offers a glimpse at how disengaged voters were with this election. KC Election Board reports 13.31% turnout which is down about 4 points from the primary.

Citizens Association & Neighborhood Forums

Citizens 2.0 was kinda silly but as the election went on their efforts were downright embarrassing.

At one of their "forums" there were, reportedly, more panelists than people in the audience. 

This way of candidate screening was popular in the 90s but the pandemic and low turnout have simply taking their toll on this bygone way of meeting the candidates.

Campaign Consultants

Allow me to show my age . . . Not so long ago there were at least a half a dozen people who made their living from managing local candidates . . . Now, that job is kaput.

I know . . . Good riddance . . . Still . . . The death of the local campaign consultant is a notable development and this time around KC voters were confronted with a slew of "influencers" who took selfies but didn't now much about how local democracy works. 

God bless you Steve Glorioso  . . . Wherever you are!!!

And so . . .

More important than all of this . . . We ask readers . . .

WHO ARE THE REAL LOSERS IN THIS KANSAS CITY CONTEST???

We'll play back the best responses in another www.TonysKansasCity.com post but for now here are the relevant aftermath links . . .

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas cruises to re-election, defeating Clay Chastain by over 60 points

As expected, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas was re-elected to a second term on Tuesday.

KC Tenants' political arm celebrates wins on election night

This election was a defining moment for a new movement spearheaded by the political arm of KC Tenants.

KCMO voters re-elect Mayor Quinton Lucas, 5 City Council members

There will be seven new members of the Kansas City, Missouri, City Council, when the winners of Tuesday's municipal election are sworn into office in August.

Kansas City election results: Here's who will represent the city for the next 4 years

All 12 seats on the city council were up for grabs in Tuesday's election. Current Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas easily won reelection.

Election results June 20, 2023

Today Kansas City voters chose their next City Council and Mayor. All 12 City Council seats were up for election, [...]

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