Updated 9:15 p.m.: Claycomb to face Ballard in Wichita City Council District 6 race

Political newcomer Maggie Ballard and incumbent City Council member Cindy Claycomb took an early lead Tuesday night in the District 6 city council race — and they appeared to be the favorites to advance to the November election with all precincts reporting Tuesday night.

“I’m really excited,” Ballard said in a brief phone interview immediately following the last set of results Tuesday night. Ballard led all candidates with 44% of the votes.

Claycomb faced a crowded field of political challengers: Ballard, Martin G. Garcia, Loren John Hermreck Jr., Dereck C. Reynolds and Andy Speck.

As of 8:45 p.m., with results from 25 out of 25 precincts, Claycomb had 41% of votes in the district, trailing Ballard by a 3-point margin. Garcia was a distant third at 7%.

Claycomb raised far more money than any other candidate, getting $54,980.75 in contributions since March, adding to $32,761 cash on hand she had at the beginning of the reporting period. Ballard raised $19,444.78, but had more individual contributors than Claycomb.

Tuesday’s District 6 primary city race had low turnout but was on par with past primary races in that district. In 2013, turnout was 1,425 voters and in 2005, 3,821 voters cast primary ballots.

Any mail-in ballots postmarked by Tuesday, Aug. 3, will be counted.

Claycomb, who’s running for reelection, said she’s not particularly surprised or worried that Ballard got more votes in the primary.

“It’s really low turnout,” Claycomb said. “So it’s hard to tell. I think it is less than 3,000 voters. I think people in District 6 haven’t gotten used to coming out for a city election on August yet, so we’ll see what happens in November.”

This was the first District 6 primary held in the summer after city council members voted to move city general elections from April to November.

The top two vote-getters Tuesday advance to the November general election.

District 6 of the City Council covers most of north Wichita and parts of the west side and includes parts of Old Town, Delano, Riverside, the North End and McAdams. Its boundaries are generally similar to Douglas on the south, I-135 on the east and I-235 on the west and includes some parts of the city north of K-96.

This story was originally published August 3, 2021 at 8:43 PM.