KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County, including Independence. Share your story idea with Tod.
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Independence and Lee’s Summit are the fifth- and sixth-largest cities in the state of Missouri and in the Kansas City region, but something happened Tuesday at the polls that hasn’t occurred in 32 years.
For the first time since 1994, Independence and Lee’s Summit are electing new mayors at the same time, an important changing of the guard for eastern Jackson County.
“I come out for all the elections, but this one really interested me because of the change of mayor,” Lee’s Summit voter Carolyn Pierce said.
Pierce moved from Buffalo, New York, to John Knox Village eight years ago, which is around the same time fellow voter Chris Jackson and his family relocated to Lee’s Summit.
“Bill Baird’s the only mayor I've known since we’ve been here,” Jackson said.
That won’t be the case much longer.
Two Lee’s Summit City Council members — Mayor Pro Tem Beto Lopez and Cynda Rader — are vying to replace the term-limited Baird, who recently announced his candidacy for Jackson County executive.
Mayor Rory Rowland’s decision not to seek reelection means Independence voters were choosing Tuesday between Councilwoman Dr. Bridget McCandless and former union executive Kevin King against the backdrop of the city’s approval of a contentious hyperscale AI data center.
But voters I spoke with made it clear that they value leadership over politics.
“If you don’t have strong leadership, you’ll lose every opportunity,” Independence voter Dennis Smith said. “If you have leadership that is passive, your economy is going to suffer, your residents are going to suffer, your taxpayers are going to be unhappy.”
Pierce agreed that leadership was paramount in a county that recalled its executive in September.
“Oh, my gosh, it’s very, very important, and hopefully they aren’t just being pulled along by what other groups want them to do and can think independently at times,” she said. “That’s what I’m looking for.”
Federal elections draw the biggest number of voters and most scrutiny, but local elections — and the impact on taxes and quality of life from city to city — arguably are a much bigger deal.
“I think Independence struggles,” Independence voter Bessie ORiley said. “They have, but we work through it somehow.”
That optimism was reflected in most voters, even as Independence looks to bounce back from its recent financial pinch.
“Blue Springs put in that wonderful indoor waterpark, and we lost our waterpark,” Independence voter Carol McLaughlin said. “I just hope we can do things like that that are good for the city and bring people back in.”
Smith said his biggest concern was growing the economy and filling empty storefronts with new development.
“I think we’re on the right track for that — at least the focus is that direction — and I think it’s going to be good for the city,” he said.
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