Councilmember Cole Robinson seems poised to be the next mayor of Prairie Village, edging out a fellow councilmember for the job.

On election night, Robinson had 7,480 votes, or 59%, to Inga Selders’ 5,153, or 41%. That gives Robinson a 2,300-vote advantage.

While nothing is official yet, Robinson told the Post on Tuesday night that he was comfortable declaring victory.

“I appreciate the trust that voters have put in me to lead the city for the next four years,” he said. “I know that it was not a decision that voters took lightly, and I know that really the job starting tomorrow is going to be to continue on a path towards more unity and cohesion in the city.”

He’s taking the win as a sign the city is ready to move on from the conflict that’s defined the city’s government in the past few years and colored recent elections.

“We’ve been through a lot, and I think there are still a lot of things pulling at the fabric of the city to divide us,” he said. “But I’m hopeful, and I’m going to do my best to play a role over the next four years to keep healing and bring the city back together.”

All election results are unofficial until the vote canvass is completed, which is scheduled for Nov. 13 in Johnson County. After that, election results will be official.

In a text message to the Post, Selders congratulated Robinson on his victory.

“While tonight’s results are not what we hoped for, I want to extend my congratulations to Cole on his victory. I respect his willingness to serve, and I hope he will govern with the goal of bringing our city together,” Selders said.

“I am incredibly proud of the community we built during this campaign. We stayed true to our values, kept our message positive, and never compromised on our belief that the voice of the people matters most. We ran this race fueled entirely by the passion of our neighbors, and that is a beautiful thing,” Selders continued. “Thank you to every single person who stood up, spoke out, and believed in our vision for Prairie Village.”

Prairie Village elections have gotten heated recently

As these two city council colleagues vied for the job, tensions flared as familiar issues reared their heads, including housing, the future of the city government and even the new city hall campus.

It’s nothing new for this city. Those same issues have colored recent city council elections and kept tempers running high at key moments in the past few years.

A lot of the vitriol dates back to 2022, when PV United — a grassroots cohort of sorts — opposed a series of housing recommendations. The group later circulated a series of petitions that sought to reshape the city’s government and limit rezoning authority.

Then, candidates aligned with the group saw success at the ballot box in 2023.

By 2025, things came to a head as another election neared. Six city council seats were up for grabs, and voters were asked to decide whether the city should “abandon” its form of government.

Robinson and five other candidates in favor of keeping the city government structure as is sailed to victory in their respective elections, and the “abandon” petition failed.

Even with such a decisive win for one side, the 2025 city council races set the stage for another potentially contentious election year.

This Prairie Village mayoral race continued past tensions

Despite recent heated and highly contested municipal elections in Prairie Village, the past couple of mayoral elections have been anything but.

In 2018, when he first sought the office, now-outgoing Mayor Eric Mikkelson got more than twice as many votes as his opponent did, focusing on walkability, parks and access for cyclists. Then, he was completely unopposed in 2022, sailing easily to a second term.

But since Mayor Mikkelson announced his plans to step back at the end of this term, the temperature has ratcheted up as Selders and Robinson faced off to become Prairie Village’s next top elected official.

Both have served for years on the Prairie Village City Council, but recently they’ve come down on different sides of multiple debates.

In addition to the issues from past elections that have taken center stage in this race, some of the same players have popped up as well.

The majority of the city’s elected officials supported Robinson’s bid. Nine of the 12 current city councilmembers — including six who easily won reelection in 2025 — endorsed him. He also got the support of outgoing Mayor Mikkelson, as well as former mayors and even a former governor.

On the other hand, Selders has drawn support from some familiar faces who have lined up with PV United, though the group did not make an official endorsement.

Robinson thinks this marks a shift in Prairie Village

Robinson told the Post that he sees the results of the mayoral election in Prairie Village as a continuation of the results from the 2025 city council elections.

“I think it’s a reaffirmation of the sweep that we saw last year, and the rejection of abandoning the government. I think it’s a rejection of some of the negative campaigning tactics that have become really common in our city,” he said. “It shows that the city wants to move on from that.”

On Tuesday, Robinson also said he thinks the outcome in the mayoral race is a sign that negativity and personal attacks aren’t “going to be a successful political tactic moving forward.”

Those comments echo similar ones he made after winning reelection to the city council last year. At the time, he said voters “soundly rejected” what had become one of “the most toxic political environments” in the region.

Juliana Garcia contributed to this story.