Michael O’Donnell ally tries to knock opponent Sarah Lopez off the November ballot

A local talk-radio host has filed an objection seeking to remove Sedgwick County Commission candidate Sarah Lopez from the November ballot.

Incumbent Commissioner Michael O’Donnell’s close friend and ally, former state Rep. John Whitmer, filed the objection with the election office claiming Lopez doesn’t live in County Commission District 2 and is therefore ineligible to run against O’Donnell.

“This objection is baseless and meritless,” Lopez’s campaign said in a written statement Thursday. “Michael is so scared of going head-to-head, he’s called in the JV team in a lame attempt to kick Sarah off the ballot. If John Whitmer is doing Michael’s bidding, it’s because nobody else will.”

Whitmer, a Republican precinct committeeman, said he was asked by others on the committee to inquire about Lopez’s residency.

“As far as I could tell, she was still a registered (Democratic) precinct committeewoman in Kechi,” he said.

Replied Lopez: “Yeah, that’s not true. When I moved from Kechi back to (commission) District 2, I was removed from that position.”

Lopez’s name does not show up in a check of the Sedgwick County Election Office’s list of Democratic precinct committeewomen.

So far, one of O’Donnell’s main campaign themes is that Lopez moved to District 2 just to run against him.

“If she did move into the district, she moved in sometime first quarter of 2020, but she’s not even renting a place there. She’s staying in someone’s basement, from what I understand,” O’Donnell said. “I heard somebody else is listed as the resident in that house, and she’s just living there.

“I’ve also heard that she doesn’t have any of the utilities in her name because she’s not living there and that her driver’s license has a different address. I’ve heard a lot of this stuff,” O’Donnell said.

Lopez acknowledged that she hasn’t updated her driver’s license, but said her name is on the lease of the duplex in District 2 and that she pays utilities.

She said she lives with her three children and her dog, but no roommates.

“That would be a little cramped if we were all staying in someone’s basement,” she said.

O’Donnell questioned Lopez’s commitment to the district.

“I have a box of Honey Nut Cheerios in my kitchen that have been in District 2 longer than Sarah Lopez has been in District 2 — and they are not expired yet. That just tells you something about the commitment that Ms. Lopez has to southwest Sedgwick County. She moved in to run for office, there’s no debating that.”

O’Donnell, a former City Council member and state senator, moved into the district about five years ago to position himself to run for the seat on the commission then held by Democrat Tim Norton.

Lopez said she has lived in District 2 seven out of the past 10 years and has lived in a home with her three children near 47th and West since February.

“District 2 is my home,” she said. “My kids and I were baptized at St. Anne Catholic Church. My daughter has been a member of the Haysville swim team for the last six years, and each of my kids go to Haysville schools.

“So many important milestones of our lives have happened in this district, which is what makes this objection truly laughable,” she said. “It’s disappointing that during a pandemic he (O’Donnell) has time for these lies and dirty political schemes.”

Both O’Donnell and Whitmer have experienced challenges to their residency in past elections.

O’Donnell was removed from the ballot in a Wichita City Council race in 2007 due to nonresidency.

Then 22, he got enough votes in the primary to force a runoff election against incumbent Paul Gray.

But a panel of county officials ruled O’Donnell resided with his parents in Bel Aire, where he was registered to vote, rather than a former parsonage house at a church pastored by his father, which he’d claimed as his residency.

O’Donnell was elected to the council four years later in 2011, again running from the former parsonage house.

In 2012, he ran for and won a state Senate seat and in 2013, he bought himself a house at the northern end of his Senate district.

In 2015, he sold that house to a cousin and moved to a duplex in south Wichita, where he filed for County Commission and beat incumbent Norton.

O’Donnell said he bought a lot in 2017 and planned to build a new house in the district, but had to sell the property to pay his legal fees after he was indicted and acquitted on federal charges related to campaign finance.

Whitmer’s residency was challenged in 2014 while he was running to unseat then-Rep. Joe Edwards, R-Haysville, in a Republican primary.

Whitmer’s house on West Red Rock Street in Wichita was under construction at the time and Edwards claimed it couldn’t be his legal residence because a certificate of occupancy hadn’t been issued yet.

Whitmer was living in the unfinished home and the State Objections Board ruled he intended it to be his permanent residence.

Edwards lost that primary race to Whitmer and shortly afterwards died of a sudden heart attack.

This story was originally published August 21, 2020 at 5:01 AM with the headline "Michael O’Donnell ally tries to knock opponent Sarah Lopez off the November ballot."