Former Blue Valley School District Superintendent David Benson pulled an upset win over incumbent board member Jim McMullen for the Area 6 spot on the Blue Valley school board, according to unofficial vote totals Tuesday night.
Benson and incumbent board member Gina Knapp emerged the apparent winners for two contested spots on the Blue Valley Board of Education.
Unofficial final results posted by the county election office showed Benson winning by a significant margin over McMullen at 59.9%-39.9%.
In the Area 5 race, Knapp led challenger Steve Roberts, a former state board of education winner, by an even wider margin, with unofficial totals giving her a roughly 65.4%-33.5% edge.
Current board member Sonya Evans ran unopposed for her Area 4 spot. She received 18,757 votes, or 97.4% of the total.
Interested in other school board races? Check out our recap here.
Winning candidates ran together
Knapp and Benson shared campaign resources and a web page.
As results became apparent Tuesday night, Knapp said, “I’m thrilled with the results. I’m so happy to see that Blue Valley is pleased with what we’ve done over the last four years in allowing me to continue to serve them for the next four years. We have a lot to accomplish in the next four years to make Blue Valley even greater.”
Benson, reached as the unofficial final tally was entered on Tuesday, said, “I’m looking forward to getting immersed back into the issues of the district and hope that my service on the board will be positive and contributory to student excellence.”
Benson was superintendent of the Blue Valley district from 1993 to 2004 and was an educator in Kansas, Missouri and Iowa for 44 years. He served in the Kansas House of Representatives for a single term in 2019-20.
“I ran the campaign I wanted to.”
Benson challenged McMullen, who has served on the school board since 2022. McMullen said he ran because he is passionate about education.
“I ran the campaign I wanted to and promoted the ideas I wanted to. I believe in those ideas, but the voters don’t agree,” he said.
McMullen faced controversies early in his term when a petition was circulated to censure and remove him from the board because of tweets that petitioners said were transphobic and anti-LGBTQ.
McMullen was not removed, but was stripped of his duties as vice president of the board.
Knapp was elected to the Blue Valley board in 2021 along with McMullen and was board president during the 2024-25 school year. She is chief financial officer of the YMCA of Greater Kansas City and has worked with numerous non-profits.
Knapp was challenged by Roberts, a former member of the Kansas Board of Education and former math teacher.
Roberts congratulated Knapp and wished her well in her upcoming term. He said that he is considering running for the state education board again, an idea he had even before Tuesday’s results.
