Two Democratic candidates — Donna Peyton and Brandon Ellington — filed to run against Republican candidate Gresia Cabrera in the race for Jackson County’s At-Large 2nd District Legislator race.
The district includes western Kansas City from the Missouri River down to about 80th Street, as well as Raytown. Voters from all over Jackson County vote on Legislators for at-large districts.
Peyton, the At-Large 2nd District incumbent, will face off against former State Rep. and Kansas City councilman Brandon Ellington in the Aug. 4 Democratic primary.
Donna Peyton, incumbent At-Large Legislator for Jackson County’s 2nd District
Incumbent At-Large 2nd District Legislator Donna Peyton met with the Telegraph after press time for our most recent Election issue. Her interview is online, but not in print.
Peyton is Chair of the Jackson County Legislature as of July, when the former Chair, Legislator Manuel Abarca IV, was ousted in a unanimous vote. She is also an administrative assistant at Macedonia Baptist Church; a graduate of Carver Baptist College, Institute & Theological Seminary; and a former member of the Raytown School District Board of Education. She was elected to the county legislature in 2022 and is seeking reelection to the At-Large 2nd District seat.
Peyton said she is running because after four years on the Legislature, there is still work left to do. Although she represents the 2nd District, she said she has demonstrated capability, knowledge, and commitment to service in serving all of Jackson County. She wants to build on this experience.
Peyton’s top priority, like other candidates running for Jackson County office, is property tax reform. That includes working to reform assessment, collections, and Board of Equalization processes, she said. Peyton supports the Legislature’s recently-passed Tax Credit Program to address what she calls “unlawful” increases to property taxes in 2023 and 2024. She said splitting up refunds over the course of three years, as laid out in the program, is an effort to soften the financial impact to taxing jurisdictions such as public schools and libraries.
Finally, Peyton wants to gather leaders from all the county’s municipalities and unincorporated areas for a Housing and Homelessness Committee, which would discuss issues such as housing and regional transit. She said a countywide conversation about homelessness has yet to be had.
“Let’s bring Buckner, Sibley, Oak Grove, Grain Valley, into the room,” Peyton said. “We represent the entire county, and we need to have that regionalism — or umbrella organization — in mind, because we touch each and every one of the citizens of Jackson County.”
Brandon Ellington, former State Representative and KC councilman
Brandon Ellington’s work started in his late teens with both political and service nonprofit organizations such as Voice of the People, Give Yourself Real Love and former president Barack Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative. Ellington was first elected to the District 22 seat in the Missouri House of Representatives in 2011.
Ellington served the state legislature until 2019, when he was elected Kansas City’s At-Large 3rd District Councilman. He served on city council until 2023, when he was deseated by incumbent At-Large 3rd District Councilwoman Melissa Hazley.
“I’m looking to bring a different breadth to the county, with the understanding that we’re connected,” Ellington said of his run for Legislator. That means the city should not not dictate what happens in the county or vice versa, he said.
Ellington also wants to bring more civic engagement to the Jackson County government, which it lacks at a basic level, he said. That means introducing more nonprofit, for-profit and healthcare partnerships to the county. It also means increasing citizen accessibility to county offices, even if that means increasing in-house staff.
Ellington’s example of a civic engagement program was the annual state-led camping trip he helped approve as State Representative. Achieved through a state partnership with the Department of Agriculture, a student camping program within Jackson County Parks and Recreation would work well in undeveloped regions of the county, Ellington said.
Finally, like other candidates running for county office, Ellington is running on the promise of tax reform. What needs to be reformed is the way the county interacts with its citizens, Ellington said. His goal is to ensure residents do not end up being priced out of the Jackson County housing market.
