It was mostly a good night for incumbents in municipal races across northeastern Johnson County, with mayors and city councilmembers retaining their offices.
Contested races in Fairway, Merriam, Mission, Mission Hills and Westwood, highlighted local ballots, with uncontested races in other cities, most notably for all city offices up for reelection in Roeland Park.
In Merriam, Mayor Bob Pape swept to a relatively comfortable Election Night win after a campaign that turned personal in its final weeks.
In Westwood, three candidates who supported a now-defunct plan to build a retail and park development on Rainbow Boulevard claimed victory for at-large city council seats. It comes just months after voters sent a different message, voting down a measure and scuttling that project.
Here’s a look at how city council and mayoral races across northeastern Johnson County fared on Tuesday.
Fairway
In Ward 2, Emily Snyder appears poised to unseat incumbent Dan Bailey, with 61% of the vote. Bailey, who was first elected in 2017 and was seeking his third term on the city council, has roughly 38.5% of the vote.
Snyder told the Post in a text on Wednesday morning that she appreciates all Fairway voters who went to the polls on Tuesday regardless of how they voted.
“I am grateful to the residents of Fairway for their support in this election and it is a privilege to have the opportunity to serve our community,” Snyder said.
In Ward 3, James Hafner won with 59.5% of the vote against Bill Stafford, who totaled 40.5% of the vote. Hafner will succeed Councilmember David Watkins.
In Ward 4, incumbent Councilmember Tanya Keys will retain her seat. She totaled 79.1% of the vote, to challenger Kiel Corkran’s 20.9%.
“(I) look forward to hoping to continue to serve,” Keys told the Post in a Tuesday night interview.
Keys, who is deputy secretary for the Kansas Department for Children and Families, said one of her top priorities is looking for options and solutions to upgrade the city’s police department.
Ward 1 Councilmember Kelly-Ann Buszek and Mayor Melanie Hepperly were both reelected in uncontested races. Buszek earned 239, or 97.2% of the vote, while Hepperly took home 861, or 95.9% of the vote.
Merriam
In the much-watched mayoral race, first-term Mayor Bob Pape won reelection over challenger Billy Croan.
On Election Night, Pape had 1,827 votes, or 76.2%, against Croan, who received 564 votes.
Pape told the Post in a Tuesday night interview that the contentious turn the mayoral race took was unexpected. (Croan, late in the campaign, asserted that Pape doesn’t live in Merriam full time.) Pape said he’s glad the race is over, and he looks forward to another four years.
“I think a message was sent that people don’t like negative comments and negative thought,” said Pape, a retired fire marshal who has spent his entire career in Merriam.
For his second mayoral term, Pape said he is focused on how to remove downtown Merriam from the floodplain and revitalize that part of the city.
In the lone contested city council race in Ward 4, Reuben Cozmyer, who was appointed to the seat last year, garnered 77.3% of the vote to Rob Arnold’s 22%. Cozmyer is a civil engineer and former Merriam planning commissioner.
“I’m just super grateful to all of my fellow Ward 4 Merriam residents for putting their trust in me to help serve them again,” Cozmyer told the Post in a voicemail on Tuesday night. “I’m really looking forward to all of the great things that are going to happen in Merriam over the next couple of years.”
The incumbents in the other three wards — councilmembers Jacob Laha, Amy Rider and Chris Evans Hands — all ran uncontested. Laha earned 322, or 93.9% of the vote, Rider took home 445, or 96.3% of the vote, and Evans Hands secured 405, or 97.1% of the vote.
Mission
In Ward 2, Sam Komosa beat out another newcomer, Joe Donaway, with 360 votes, or 75.3% of the total, in the race to fill Councilmember Lea Loudon’s seat on the Mission City Council.
Komosa, a senior project manager for his family’s textile manufacturing plant, has served on the Mission Parks, Recreation and Tree Commission since 2023.
“The results are really affirming for what this campaign has been about, which is connecting with voters, knocking on doors, reaching them where they are,” he told the Post on Tuesday evening. “I’m just deeply humbled that that many people find me to be a choice for them.”
Looking ahead to his time on the city council, Komosa said he wants to prioritize funding street maintenance, investing in parks and recreation, attracting development to the city and focusing on bringing small businesses to the Johnson Drive corridor.
In Ward 3, Councilmember Debbie Kring held a narrower lead over challenger Kayla Schiller, totaling 54.3% overall. After Tuesday, Kring had a 31-vote lead on Schiller.
“I’m very proud and honored to be a city councilmember for Ward 3 again,” she told the Post on Tuesday evening.
Kring, who retired from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2014, has served on the Mission City Council for 26 years and said she’s looking forward to another term to continue her record of service to the city.
“I’ve enjoyed the last 26 years, and I hope to continue this,” she said. “We have a great community. Everybody knows everybody. it’s a wonderful small town that’s been directed and led very well, and it’s doing a great job.”
Kring said she wants to continue to prioritize infrastructure investment, safe streets, parks and recreation, sustainability and public safety.
All other candidates — Mayor Sollie Flora and Councilmembers Josepha Haden Chomphosy for Ward 1 and Ben Chociej for Ward 4 — ran uncontested. Flora took home 1,498, or 97.7% of the vote, Haden Chomphosy secured 199, or 97.5% of the vote, and Chociej earned 463, or 98.3% of the vote.
Mission Hills
In the mayoral race, Andrew Weed earned the Election Night victory over Braden Perry with 644 votes, or 55.6% of the total.
Weed, who has a background working in sales and has been a regular community volunteer for 25 years, has emphasized public safety, fiscal responsibility, infrastructure and transparent government in his campaign.
“I’m really appreciative of the voters of Mission Hills to give me the chance to serve them,” he told the Post. “I really appreciate the opportunity and will work hard to make them pleased with their decisions.
“Thank you for having the faith in me and my ability to serve the diverse needs of our residents,” he continued. “I look forward to working with each resident as we move forward as a city.”
Weed will succeed current Mission Hills Mayor David Dickey.
In the city council at-large race, the top two candidates win seats. As such, incumbent Bill Bruning and Dan Sullivan, the only two candidates in the race, won on Election Night.
Mission Woods
In the municipality of roughly 200 people straddling Shawnee Mission Parkway near Mission Hills Country Club, there were no uncontested races for city offices.
Mayor Erica Hartley, a real estate developer who was appointed earlier this year after the former mayor’s resignation, faced no challenger as she ran for her first full term in office.
In addition, all five at-large city council seats were up for election, and five candidates filed to run, meaning all five automatically earned seats.
Those include four incumbents — Leslie Carto, Keith Mays, Ramsey Mohsen and Dan Sweeney — as well as newcomer Paul Hartley, who is Erica Hartley’s husband.
Roeland Park
There were no contested races for city offices in the northeastern Johnson County suburb of roughly 7,000 people.
Mayor Michael Poppa, appointed in 2023 after former mayor Mike Kelly was elected county chair, ran unopposed for his first full term.
Two current city council incumbents — Tom Madigan in Ward 1 and Jen Hill in Ward 2 — also ran for reelection unopposed.
Candidates in the city’s two other wards also ran with no opponents: Harold Morales for the Ward 3 seat currently occupied by Kate Raglow, and Debbi Schraeder for the Ward 4 seat currently occupied by Jeffrey Stocks.
Westwood
In Westwood, six city council candidates — including one incumbent — are vying for three open seats.
It appears Stephanie Becker, Spencer Day and Councilmember Jeff Harris are poised to win those at-large seats, all with at least 17% of the vote in the six-person field.
Harris, a managing director at Spotlight, an analyst relations firm, told the Post in a voicemail on Wednesday morning that he believes Tuesday night’s results show Westwood voters reflected on what happened in April.
Voters in April rejected the sale of Joe D. Dennis Park, thus killing a proposal to build an office-retail project and add another, bigger park on an adjacent property.
Becker, Day and Harris were all outspoken in their support of that now-defunct project during this fall’s campaign.
With Becker and Day on track to win two of the three open seats, Harris said he takes it as a sign that most Westwood voters support development that is about “forward thinking” and “forward progress.”
“I think, frankly, in reelecting the only incumbent, me, they expressed their general support for the direction the city has been heading and I hope we will continue to head,” Harris said.
For Becker, her top priorities in her first term on the city council will be listening to neighbors and striking a balance between protecting Westwood’s culture and allowing the city to evolve.
Like Harris, Becker sees Tuesday night’s results as a clear indication of what Westwood voters want out of their local government.
“I think they just really sent a message that we’re done with the divisiveness and we want to bring our community together with the kindness and thoughtfulness that we’ve always historically seen,” Becker told the Post on Wednesday morning.
The trio beat out James Spies, Jennifer Westlake and Greg Hirleman, the remaining three candidates, all of whom expressed skepticism or outright opposition to the Rainbow development.
The Post reached out to Day and will update this story once we hear back.
Westwood Hills
There were no contested city races in the community of roughly 400 people who live within a five-block stretch of homes between Rainbow Boulevard and State Line Road.
Mayor Rosemary Podrebarac, first elected to a two-year term in 2023, ran for a second term this year unopposed.
There were also five at-large city council seats on the ballot and five candidates running, meaning all candidates automatically won seats, regardless of what order they finish.
Those city council candidates include current councilmembers Adam England, David Schmitz, Karen Sexton and John Weedman, as well as Laura Carey.
Kaylie McLaughlin and Juliana Garcia contributed reporting to this story.
