By Paul Thompson

Northeast News

Kansas City voters weighed in on a right-to-work law, a municipal rental inspection program and a wide variety of elected representatives during the high-turnout August 7 primary election.

One big takeaway from election night was an overwhelming statewide defeat (67%-33%) for right-to-work legislation Proposition A, which 83% (47,924) of Kansas City, Missouri voters struck down. Elsewhere, Kansas City Question 1 – which implements a rental inspection program in the city – was approved by 57% of KCMO residents; Claire McCaskill and Josh Hawley easily emerged as the Democratic and Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate; and Crystal Williams held off John Burnett for the 2nd District At-Large seat in the Jackson County Legislature.

The turnout for the primary election was huge, especially among Democratic voters. In the U.S. Senate race, Democrats cast 605,503 total votes on their way to selecting Claire McCaskill with 83% of the vote. During the 2016 primary, Democrats cast only 319,886 on their way to selecting Jason Kander as their general election candidate. The figures for Republicans in their U.S. Senate primary were nearly identical between 2016 and 2018: with 663,553 votes cast then, versus 663,586 votes cast during the 2018 primary.

The turnout trend continued down the ballot. For instance, Emanuel Cleaver II earned 87,449 votes in his unopposed District 5 U.S. Representative on August, 7 2018; an increase of more than 30,000 votes over the 55,274 total votes that were cast during Missouri’s 2016 primary, where he faced off against Roberta Gough. The District 5 race is a particularly compelling comparison because it features the same two leading candidates as it did in 2016: Cleaver II on the Democratic side, and Jacob Turk on the Republican side. Republicans cast 47,773 total votes in the District 5 U.S. Representative primary in 2018, after casting 41,297 votes in the race during the 2016 primary.

Elsewhere, District 19 State Representative Ingrid Burnett ran unopposed to once again earn the Democratic nomination, garnering 1,799 votes. During her hotly-contested 2016 primary election contest with opponent Manny Abarca, Democratic voters only registered 1,555 total votes. On August 7, 2018, Abarca returned to the ballot to beat Sam Crowley in a 66%-34% vote to become the Ward 12 Democratic Committeeman. Patricia A. Hernandez earned 68% of the vote to win the Ward 12 Democratic Committeewoman race over Marissa Baum.

Ward Committeemen and Committeewomen will have be politically important in the coming weeks, as the party organizations are tasked with choosing Jackson County Sheriff candidates for the November 2018 ballot.

Here’s a look at all the results, as released by the Missouri Secretary of State’s office and the county election boards throughout the metropolitan area:

Note: Statewide candidates earning greater than 5% of the vote have been included in our figures. Results show all precincts reporting

– U.S. Senator – Democrat:
(2018 total votes: 605,503)
(2016 total votes: 319,886)

Carla (Coffee) Wright: 40,971 (7%)
Claire McCaskill: 500,162 (83%)

– U.S. Senator – Republican:
(2018 total votes: 663,553)
(2016 total votes: 663,586)

Tony Monetti: 64,718 (10%)
Austin Petersen: 54,810 (8%)
Josh Hawley: 389,006 (59%)
Christina Smith: 34,958 (5%)
Kristi Nichols: 49,554 (8%)

– State of Missouri Auditor – Democrat:
(2018 total votes: 515,398)
(2014 total votes: no candidate)

Nicole Galloway: 515,398 (100%)

– State of Missouri Auditor – Republican:
(2018 total votes: 591,685)
(2014 total votes: 431,778 – unopposed)

Kevin M. Roach: 143,745 (24%)
David Wasinger: 158,071 (27%)
Paul Curtman: 97,055 (16%)
Saundra McDowell: 192,814 (33%)

-U.S. Representative District 5 – Democrat:
(2018 total votes: 87,449)
(2016 total votes: 55,274 – with an opponent)

Emanuel Cleaver, II: 87,449 (100%)

– U.S. Representative District 5 – Republican:
(2018 total votes: 47,773)
(2016 total votes: 41,297)

Kress Cambers: 8,423 (18%)
Jacob Turk: 35,883 (75%)
Richonda Oaks: 3,467 (7%)

– State Representative District 19 – Democrat:
(2018 total votes 1,799)
(2016 total votes: 1,555 – with an opponent)

Ingrid Burnett: 1,799 (100%)

– Jackson County Executive – Democrat:
(2018 total votes: 37,829)
(2014 total votes: 17,521 – no opposition)

Matthew T. Merryman: 6,369 (18.64%)
Frank White, Jr.: 26395 (69.77%)
Jeremy Raines: 5,065 (13.39%)

– Jackson County Executive – Republican:
NONE

– Jackson County Legislature, 1st District At-Large – Democrat:
(2018 total votes: 33,172)
(2014 total votes: 18,575)

Jalen Anderson: 22,410 (67.56%)
Sherwood Smith: 10.762 (32.44%)

– Jackson County Legislature, 2nd District At-Large – Democrat:
(2018 total votes: 34,630)
(2014 total votes: 16,247)

Crystal J. Williams: 24,178 (69.82%)
John Burnett: 10,452 (30.18%)

– Jackson County Legislature, 3rd District At-Large – Democrat:
(2018 total votes: 33,526)
(2014 total votes: 15,459 – unopposed)

Tony Miller: 15,191 (45.31%)
Roberta Gough: 18,335 (54.69%)

– Jackson County Legislature, 1st District – Democrat:
(2018 total votes: 414)
(2014 total votes: 205)

Scott Burnett: 414 (100%)

– Jackson County Sheriff: (Note: this election has been canceled. Party committeemen and women will select candidates for the November 6 general election)

– Ward 12 – Democratic Committeeman:

Sam Crowley: 183 (34.4%)
Manny Abarca: 349 (65.6%)

– Ward 12 – Democratic Committeewoman:

Patricia A. Hernandez: 362 (68%)
Marissa Baum: 167 (32%)

PROPOSITION A:

Do the people of the state of Missouri want to adopt Bill 19 (“Right-to-Work”) as passed by the general assembly in 2017, which prohibits as a condition of employment the forced membership in a labor organization (union) or forced payments of dues in full or pro-rata (fair-share); make any activity which violates employees’ rights illegal and ineffective; allow legal remedies for anyone injured as a result of another person violating or threatening to violate employees’ right; and which shall not apply to union agreements entered into before the effective date of Senate Bill 19? State and local government entities expect no costs or savings.

YES: 452,075 (33%)

NO: 937,241 (67%)

CITY OF KANSAS CITY, QUESTION 1:
Shall the City of Kansas City create a residential rental inspection program to protect the public health, safety and welfare in residential rental property units by enacting and enforcing minimum health and safety standards and be authorized to establish the following fees to be paid by the rental owner or owner’s agent for permitting, inspecting and regulating residential rental property units?

Application/ Annual Permit Review Fees. A fee of twenty ($20.00) dollars for each rental property due at time of submission of the initial application for the permit and fee of twenty ($20.00) dollars per rental unit due annually.
Re-inspection Fees. A re-inspection fee of $150.00 assessed for the re-inspection of the first rental unit. A $100 re-inspection fee assessed at the time of the re-inspection for every additional unit requiring re-inspection.
Re-instatement Fee of $300.00 for the reinstatement of any permits that have been suspended.
A Late Fee equal to 10 percent of the amount due per month for fees not paid when due.
Adjustment of Fees. Authority to adjust the above-listed fees annually to reflect the change in the consumer price index (CPI) for all items/all urban consumers/Kansas City, Missouri-Kansas, published by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. The City is also authorized to make cumulative adjustments for those years in which fees were not previously adjusted.

YES: 51,198 (57%)

NO: 39,367 (43%)