Ranzau, Cruse will face off for Sedgwick County Commission

Updated 10:20 p.m.: Lacey Cruse, a folk singer and political newcomer whose campaign poster proclaimed “NO MORE OLD WHITE GUYS,” will face off against incumbent Richard Ranzau in the race for Sedgwick County Commissioner.

Ranzau, 53, squeaked out a win in his Republican primary against political newcomer Hugh Nicks. The difference was only 87 votes.

Cruse, 36, toppled Michael Kinard, a community activist and former Wichita school board member, garnering 57 percent of the vote in the District 4 Democratic primary.

“I feel great,” Cruse said after the final vote tally. “I feel like I have worked my butt off and there’s still more to do.

“This is just the beginning. And . . . now it’s full steam ahead.”

Ranzau spent most of the evening trailing his opponent in the Republican primary, edging forward only when final results were posted. Official results will be released after provisional ballots are counted.

“Right now we’re looking good,” Ranzau said.

“It was a nervewracking night, of course. . . . We knew some of the areas hadn’t come in yet, so we were just waiting to know if we could make up the difference,” he said. “In the end, we did, so we’re pretty happy.”

Nicks, a retired marketing executive, claimed throughout his campaign that Ranzau was too divisive to maintain his seat on the county commission.

“I just thought people were ready for a change — something more civil, something more professional,” Nicks said Tuesday night. “But I guess not.”

Updated 9:55 p.m.: Incumbent Richard Ranzau squeaked out a win in his Republican primary for Sedgwick County Commissioner, besting challenger Hugh Nicks by 87 votes.

With all precincts reporting, Ranzau had 50.6 percent of the vote to Nicks’ 49.4 percent, according to unofficial results from the Sedgwick County election office.

Updated 9:45 p.m.: Lacey Cruse, a political newcomer whose campaign poster proclaimed “NO MORE OLD WHITE GUYS,” sprinted to an early lead and so far has held it in her Democratic primary for Sedgwick County Commission.

Cruse, a folk singer who recently performed during a Bernie Sanders rally at Century II, spent Tuesday night entertaining supporters and volunteers at her home in north Wichita.

With 61 percent of precincts reporting, Cruse led Michael Kinard, a former Wichita school board member, by a 55-45 margin.

The winner of the Democratic primary will face off in November against the winner of the Republican matchup between incumbent Richard Ranzau and Hugh Nicks.

Updated 9:25 p.m.: First-time candidates Hugh Nicks and Lacey Cruse held early leads in their primary races for Sedgwick County Commission with nearly two-thirds of precincts reporting.

Nicks has a slight lead over incumbent Richard Ranzau by a 53-47 margin with 61 percent of precincts reporting.

“I didn’t realize it would be quite as contentious as it has been,” Nicks said, addressing supporters at his watch party Tuesday night. “I thought county commission was more about service than anything. . . . But it has gotten more political as we’ve gone along. I’ve tried to maintain the high road.”

In the Democratic primary, Cruse, a hospice consultant and folk singer, led Michael Kinard by a 55-45 margin with 61 percent of precincts reporting.

Updated 9:10 p.m.: Republican Hugh Nicks gathered with supporters for a watch party at Maize United Methodist Church.

Reacting to his early lead over incumbent Richard Ranzau, Nicks said, “I really didn’t know what to expect at all, quite honestly.

“This is the first time I’ve run for public office,” he said. “I don’t know how to react to it.”

Updated 8:55 p.m.: Hugh Nicks has a slight lead over incumbent Richard Ranzau — 2,390 votes to 2,107 — in the Republican primary for the Sedgwick County Commission with slightly more than half of precincts reporting.

In the Democratic primary, folk singer Lacey Cruse led Michael Kinard — 2,256 votes to 1,658 — with 55 percent of precincts reporting.

Original story:

The race for District 4, which stretches from central Wichita to the north and west, could affect the balance of power on the commission.

In the Republican primary, Ranzau’s challenger — retired marketing executive Hugh Nicks — has said Ranzau is too divisive to continue to serve on the board.

The Democratic primary features Kinard, a seasoned community activist and former Wichita school board member, against Cruse, a hospice consultant and musician.

Cruse spent part of election night singing — at one point, the Sheryl Crow tune “Picture” — for about 30 supporters and volunteers who gathered at her north Wichita home.

On the Republican side, the campaign boiled down to two major issues: obstruction and corruption.

Nicks — with a lot of help from his allies at the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce — flooded mailboxes in the district with fliers accusing Ranzau of obstructing efforts to use government subsidies to spur businesses and jobs.

Ranzau leaned heavily on his record as a commissioner, highlighting his outspoken opposition to taxes and what he says are sleazy and largely hidden dealings between the county and well-connected business people.

His campaign got a big boost when fellow Commissioner Michael O’Donnell — who Ranzau says is at the heart of the corruption — was indicted on federal charges of money laundering and fraud in relation to campaign finances.

The money difference was huge in the race. Nicks outraised Ranzau by a factor of three to one.

A recent finance report showed that Nicks, a former vice president of the chamber, raised more than $54,000 for his campaign, most of it from corporate executives, especially development and real estate interests.

Ranzau raised only $18,000 to defend his seat, mixed between real estate interests, small-business owners and conservative activists.

The ultimate outcome of the race could affect the balance of power on the commission, which has been split in recent years.

All five commissioners are Republicans, but there’s a divide between low-tax, small-government conservatives and a more pro-business wing that supports more government involvement in the private sector.

Ranzau was a leader of the small-government wing that held the majority until the 2016 election.

The Democratic race was a matchup of new blood versus a well-known name.

Cruse entered the political scene just last year after she became energized by the January 2017 Women’s March to protest the election of President Donald Trump.

Kinard, a photographer known in northeast Wichita as “the Pictureman,” campaigned on a platform of experience. He served on the Wichita school board from 2001 to 2005.

Cruse is teamed up with her friend Renee Duxler, a Douglas Design District business woman who is running for the vacant commission seat in the 1st district.

Their common pitch is that the commission has long been dominated by men — especially older white men — and needs an infusion of youth and female influence.

Cruse got a major boost for her primary campaign at a rally last month featuring former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a rising star of the Democrats’ progressive wing. The rally drew a crowd of about 4,000. It was mostly to support the congressional candidacy of Democrat James Thompson, but Cruse got a turn on the stage as one of the warm-up acts.

Kinard’s pitch was that his experience with government would let him hit ground running on major county issues, especially the ongoing debate over relocating county offices to clear space at the courthouse for the court system.

Kinard also said he’s better positioned to deal with mental health, one of the county’s biggest responsibilities.

He said he gained new insight on that when he himself suffered from depression last year. He said he was hit hard by the death of a friend, physical illness, a $1,200 car repair bill and his loss to Brandon Johnson in the Wichita City Council.

For the District 1 seat, Republican Pete Meitzner, a Wichita City Council member, will face Democrat newcomer Renee Duxler in November. In District 5, incumbent Republican Jim Howell is running unopposed.

Contributing: Jerry Siebenmark, Jenna Farhat, Matt Riedl, Jason Tidd of The Eagle.

This story was originally published August 7, 2018 at 7:10 PM.