KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan covers politics on both sides of the state line. If you have a story idea to share, you can send Charlie an email at charlie.keegan@kshb.com.
———
Citizens of Jackson County spent months gathering signatures to trigger a recall election of Jackson County, Missouri, Executive Frank White, Jr.
No excuse absentee voting is underway now. The official election day is Tuesday, September 30.
White sat down with KSHB 41 News reporter Alyssa Jackson to plead his case for keeping his position. KSHB 41 Explains how the county got to this point.
Who is Frank White?
He went from Royals World Series champion to local politician. First, he joined the Jackson County legislature in 2014. In 2016, he became the county executive.
“A lot of times you’ll see an athlete go into politics, they’ll say, ‘He’s just a baseball player, he doesn’t know nothing about politics."' "I do know common sense,” White explained.
White won his 2018 re-election with 73% of the vote.
Signs of trouble emerged in 2022. White won reelection with 55% percent, only after edging out a serious contender in the Democratic primary with 53% of the vote.
“He is solely responsible for what happens in our county,” explained Stephanie Coen, who’s played a large role in the recall initiative.
Why are people mad now?
It starts with property assessments. Typically, the higher a home’s value, the more the owner pays in taxes.
The county is in charge of assessing the value of every property in odd-numbered years.
Many property assessments increased in 2019. Then, they increased significantly in 2023. That led to a record 55,000 appeals and several lawsuits.
“It’s like they don’t want us to keep our property,” one woman said in 2023.
The State Tax Commission stepped in to cap those increases. White and his administration initially pushed back on that order. That made property owners feel like White was against them.
“They’ve lost complete trust in their community,” Coen told KSHB 41 News in April 2025.
The county executive said he is following the law.
What about the Chiefs and Royals?
Both teams want tax dollars to help them pay for stadium projects.
“There are a lot of unanswered questions we need to get from those teams,” White said in January 2024.
In April 2024, White opposed a plan that went to voters. 58% of voters said no to the plan. Despite seeming to agree with White, voters did not throw any extra support behind the executive after the election.
White thinks groups who’d benefit from building a new stadium - like unions and the Heavy Constructors Association - want him out of the way so the teams can get a friendly deal from the county.
Where is Frank White?
There are the optics: White generally doesn’t get along with most of the legislators. That led to a months-long standoff over the 2025 county budget.
White rarely shows up to county legislature meetings. He’s been to one in 2025. He says the county charter does not require his attendance.
He also revealed he fought kidney cancer in 2023.
White has called the recall an expensive and political “power grab” that's unnecessary since he won't run for reelection in 2026.
"I feel good about it. I think when you follow the law – I can sleep at night following the law,” White said when asked about the recall.
What happens next?
The chairman of the county legislature will pick an immediate successor to White should voters recall him.
