Post last updated at 9:18 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 6:
Bob Schumm, Kristine Polian, Bart Littlejohn and Mike Courtney will face off for two Lawrence City Commission seats in the Nov. 4 general election.
Schumm had nearly 400 votes more than the other candidates; just a handful of votes separated those in second, third and fourth place.
Here are the unofficial final primary election results:
Schumm has served 12 years on the commission, most recently from 2011 to 2015. He opposes the proposed recreation facility fees the current commission is considering, saying when the city was planning Sports Pavilion Lawrence when he was mayor in 2013, he promised free access.
During his campaign, Schumm has expressed disappointment in city budget decisions, such as the proposal to move City Hall, which the commission ultimately voted down in October. He said if elected, he would advocate to reduce the capital improvement plan and the employee count.
“I think this is reassuring,” Schumm said in an interview at the elections office. “When you stick your neck out a little bit, you say, ‘Here’s things that I think we should do,’ and then when you get a vote, that affirms that. So I’m really strong on the issues that I’ve raised, and I’m going to just beat on them more.”
Newcomers Polian and Courtney came in second and fourth, respectively. Incumbent Littlejohn is running for another four-year term. He came in third place with all precincts counted in Tuesday’s unofficial final results.
Polian said she wanted to bring to the commission her career expertise in public finance. In her answers to the Times’ candidate questionnaire, Polian said the current commission lacks leadership and understanding of its role. She said if elected, she would advocate to increase housing inventory, maintain existing infrastructure, and bring better paying jobs through economic development, which in turn will increase affordability.
After the results came in, Polian said she was shocked and overwhelmed. This election is her first time running for public office, and she felt voters needed to get to know her.
“I’m just so grateful that people have faith and trust in me – that I can affect change, and I do believe I can,” Polian said. “The two things that I have seen in this process that are consistent across everybody I talked to is everybody loves this city and everybody wants change. Those are the two things that this community is not divided about, and this community can be divisive at times, so we need to capitalize on that.”
Littlejohn was first elected in 2021. He said he’s proud of the progress made during his time on the commission, particularly in housing and homelessness, the land development code, small business support and more. But he said there’s much work to do on affordable housing.
Littlejohn said he mostly works with mid-size businesses in Lawrence and that his efforts as a commissioner are informed by his previous experience with several Lawrence organizations. Economic development is another of his priorities. He said Lawrence’s next step in growth will be creating and maintaining multiple economic hubs.
After the commission meeting Tuesday, he said he was grateful for everyone who voted for him and everyone who voted in general.
“Just to go ahead and make it into the top four is pretty hard in itself, so I’m just grateful to be able to do that and have a lot of support from people to go ahead and push me forward,” he said. “… Hopefully we’ll have a little bit better result here in the general, but I’m excited for the process.”
Courtney said he ran to try to remedy Lawrence’s housing affordability problem and what he sees as budget overspending. He said his decades in the tech industry — building consensus, managing budgets, and using tech solutions to reduce costs — could benefit the city.
Courtney identified three solutions he suggests to balance finances, including a 10-year infrastructure plan instead of a 5-year plan, maintaining no recreation facility fees, and consolidating functions of the city’s Municipal Services and Operations team. He proposed implementing high-quality modular housing to combat recent challenges to homeownership.
Courtney said his decision to run came after sitting on a friend’s porch talking about costs of living. Voters discussed many of the same issues as each other during his campaign, he said.
“I’m humbled by the support of our community,” Courtney said via email Wednesday morning. “… Lawrencians showed up and voted for affordability, accountability and No to Rec Center fees.”
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Thirteen total candidates’ names were on the primary ballot. Other candidates, alphabetically by last name, include Paul Buskirk, Mike Harreld, Eric Hyde, Steve Jacob, Alex Kerr, Amanda Nielsen, Peter Shenouda and former commissioner Courtney Shipley. She came in a close fifth place, 119 votes behind the fourth-place candidate. (Ruby Mae Johnson also appeared on the ballot but announced that she was suspending her campaign well before the election.)
Longtime Commissioner Lisa Larsen did not file for reelection. (The other three seats — currently held by Mike Dever, Brad Finkeldei and Amber Sellers — will be on ballots again in 2027.)
Typically, city primary elections see about 10% voter turnout. With all ballots counted Tuesday evening, turnout was 11.2%. Nearly 7,000 ballots — 6,944 — had been counted. Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew had estimated earlier in the evening that there would be about 7,000 votes.
The elections office will still count additional ballots it receives via mail by Friday. Election results are not final until the canvass, which will be Monday, Aug. 18.
Not enough people filed to run for Lawrence school board to make a primary necessary in that race, but three school board seats will be up for election in November.
The deadline to register to vote or update voter registration for the Nov. 4 general election will be Tuesday, Oct. 14. Douglas County voters can register quickly and/or request a mail ballot online at KSVotes.org.
— Reporters Maya Hodison, Mackenzie Clark and Cuyler Dunn contributed to this post.
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