Jackson County Executive primary pits 6 KC area Democrats

In the Aug. 4 primary election, Jackson County voters will decide between six Democratic candidates for Executive, the county’s highest office. Despite filing for candidacy shortly before the March 31 deadline, interim Jackson County Executive Phil LeVota will not seek reelection to the seat in November, he confirmed in April. DaRon McGee, 4th District Legislator, also confirmed his withdrawal from the Executive race in April.

One of the six Democratic candidates for Jackson County Executive will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot alongside Republican Alan Rohlfing, who is running unopposed in his party.

The election comes as LeVota wraps up the four-year term started by ousted Executive Frank White. LeVota replaced White in a 2025 recall election after property reassessments that began in 2019 caused substantial tax spikes across the county.

The primary election also comes exactly one month after LeVota signed Executive Order 26-27 to implement a property tax credit program in the county. The order would implement tax credits to more than 200,000 Jackson County taxpayers, addressing the old reassessments. Candidates were asked specifically about the new tax credit program and how it will affect tax jurisdictions such as public school districts, library districts, and mental health funding.

Here are the candidates:

Stacy Lake

Attorney Stacy Lake is a Kansas City native and lawyer specializing in civil litigation. She came onto the scene as a political newcomer in 2022 when she ran against Frank White. Expectations for Lake were already low when White came out on top, but the results were neck and neck: 53.27% for White and 46.73% for Lake. 

Lake is running again in 2026 because her previous run shows that she has a real chance of winning, she said. She wants to reform and modernize Jackson County government, which she says has been operating in a state of mismanagement and dysfunction. 

Lake would foster this modernized county government through a seven-pronged J.A.C.K.S.O.N. plan, which stands for: 

• Justice System Reform;
• Auditing the County Government;
• County Wide Infrastructure Improvements;
• Keeping Taxes and Utilities Affordable;
• Small Business Rejuvenation;
• Ownership Initiative for Single Family Households;
• and a Neighbor to Neighbor Transportation Plan.

Lake, who lives in Hyde Park, said on Facebook that her property tax bill in 2019 rose by more than 1000%. It wasn’t just her property — her entire neighborhood was dealing with increases, and few could afford it. That’s why as Executive, Lake wants to ensure Jackson County doesn’t experience another “tax crisis.”

As Legislators have begun passing legislation related to the new Tax Credit Program, Lake addressed concerns about taxing jurisdictions such as public school and library districts that benefit from property taxes. She wants to ensure the county tax credit distribution process goes as painlessly as possible for those who need the funding, and that districts need to be part of the tax credits conversation, too.

Lake also has concerns that she says require joint city-county-community effort, such as the ‘inexcusable’ blight along Blue River Road. The once popular north-south route is a city road, but it was built as a county road in 1929. Portions of the route have been closed for nearly 15 years as the asphalt crumbles and dumping persists. The county must be part of a solution, Lake said. 

Ryan Meyer

Activist and former campaign worker Ryan Meyer did not respond to the Telegraph’s multiple requests for a discussion about his campaign. Meyer was defeated by incumbent District 28 State Rep. Tom McDonald in the 2014 primary race. In 2022, Donna Peyton defeated him in the primary race for Jackson County’s At-Large 2nd District Legislator.

Meyer also has corporate experience, including work on the successful campaigns of former President Barack Obama and former Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, according to his campaign website. It also says he works with minority organizations and is the founder of Had Enough, Inc. and the Divided We Beg initiative, which push pro-union reform in Missouri.

Meyer is running to restore public faith in Jackson County government and to protect schools while delivering economic justice, according to the website. It also notes that the county’s decision to elect county assessors going forward is a step in the right direction.

Meyer is also a mental health advocate and is running on issues such as fully funding the Jackson County Health Department and streamlining its programs in consultation with similar municipal programs. His website adds that a cohesive collection of mental health programs by the county could help solve Kansas City’s “endemic homelessness and violent crime.”

Holmes Osborne

Holmes Osborne is a graduate of Odessa High School and Syracuse University. He has been a financial advisor for the majority of his career, managing people’s money for more than 30 years. After a few unsuccessful legislative office bids, Osborne was appointed to a seat on the Metropolitan Community College Board of Trustees in 2019. 

Osborne has spent more of his career as a financial advisor than a politician, but he says this distinction works to his advantage. He is running for County Executive because he believes he has the imagination and willpower to put Jackson County where it needs to be. 

For Osborne, that means remediating the assessment debacle that affected thousands of taxpayers, he said. Osborne wants to hold the government accountable through honest assessments. He’ll accomplish this as a financial expert taking an honest look at the Jackson County books, according to his website.

On the topic of finances, Osborne also wants more clarity in the county budget by publishing a ‘plain-English’ county budget that conducts line-by-line spending reviews, Osborne’s website says. It also highlights his support for senior tax relief and reliable public safety as well as opposition to Right to Work laws.

Asked about the tax credit program and taxing jurisdictions, Osborne said candidates have the choice of two teams: for schools or for taxpayers. Osborne identifies as a team taxpayer, which is why he said public schools can “tighten their belts” to spend less money in areas such as athletics. He flagged his position as MCC board member as giving him special expertise in public school funding. 

Osborne also said the new potential stadium deals are bad for taxpayers. An outspoken critic of the new moves planned for the Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals, Osborne says he would prioritize taxpayers over team owners during stadium deal negotiations. 

Finally, Osborne also wants to transition the old Jackson County Detention Center in downtown Kansas City back into a functioning jail. He also thinks Kansas City ought to keep its temporary jail in the Northland. In tandem, this would increase the Kansas City area’s capacity for inmates, he said. Osborne added that county courthouses should hire security guards instead of employing deputy sheriffs, who should be patrolling the streets, he said.

Bill Baird

Candidate Bill Baird is the former mayor of Lee’s Summit, who has also served on the district’s school board and the area board of realtors. Baird has served two terms as mayor, completing his most recent term in April. Baird is running for County Executive because wants to apply his municipal and real estate experience at the county level, restoring financial stability in the county and providing certainty to taxpayers. 

Baird said youth athletics helped foster his appreciation for diversity, which helps achieve common goals. He has degrees in business and psychology, joined his wife as a teacher in the 90s before going into real estate and local government. His experience includes work with the city’s $100 million budget, increasing first-responder benefits, diversifying housing stock and maintaining a reputation of accountability, he said. 

Jackson County government will follow all laws explicitly if Baird is elected Executive, he says. Going forward, Baird specifically said he wants to make sure the county honors the 15% increase inspection requirement as well as the Hancock Amendment, a state law that protects localities from non-voter-approved tax increases. This would provide taxpayers with the certainty and protection they need, he said. 

Asked about Jackson County’s newly passed Tax Credit Program, Baird said: “I’m not going to try and go back and fix what Phil has done, because he was trying to fix what Frank has done.”

Baird said local taxing jurisdictions such as public school and library districts are not happy about the Jackson County Tax Credit Program because of the negative impact on their funding. He said there’s nothing he can do about that until he gets elected, but he can promise representatives from taxing jurisdictions will have a seat at the table going forward.

“They met, but they don’t feel like they were consulted with, and so they’re not happy,” Baird said about the county’s taxing jurisdictions.

Baird also wants to prioritize infrastructure as Executive, flagging his “public safety brand.” He said he is a facilitator and collaborator who can make tax dollars go far, a track record proven by previous partnerships between Lee’s Summit and the Missouri Department of Transportation, the Missouri Highway Patrol and the Lee’s Summit School District. 

Baird added that while he was Mayor, Jackson County was the only entity that wouldn’t partner with Lee’s Summit unless the city sued the county. That speaks to a culture change needed within Jackson County government, he said. 

Dan Tarwater

Dan Tarwater is the candidate most familiar to voters in south Kansas City. Tarwater has the most county experience out of all six candidates, having served on the Legislature for more than 20 years. His 2026 bid for Executive comes three years after an unsuccessful run for city council against Johnathan Duncan, who now represents Kansas City’s 6th District.

Tarwater is running because he was concerned about the county experiencing “Frank Part 2” with one of the other candidates. When Jackson County selected LeVota as interim Executive in 2025, the Legislature was split by a 5-4 vote. Five votes went to then-Legislator LeVota, and four went to then-Legislator Tarwater. He opted not to run for Executive in 2026 and let LeVota keep working on fixing Jackson County — until April, when LeVota dropped out of the race.

“No one works with anyone,” Tarwater complains about the county. So, he would implement new staff for the finance, assessment, collections, human resources and legal teams. Tarwater wants these teams to work for the county — not just the Executive. He would also meet with each Legislator individually to assess their goals, concerns and progress.

Tarwater also has concerns about the county’s new three-year Tax Credit Program. He doesn’t want to cut funding to taxing jurisdictions, and he is also worried people don’t know what tax credits are or how they work. Additionally, he is worried about people who sold their homes and moved not receiving their due credit.

Instead, Tarwater proposes something else entirely. He wants to ask county voters about a general obligation bond to fund refund checks for taxpayers who overpaid. This bond would allow the county to pay back taxpayers over a period of 10 years while maintaining funding for public schools, libraries and mental health, he said.

Tarwater cited the Blue River Road problem as the result of entities operating independently as “islands” when they should be collaborating. He said the $5 million problem at Blue River Road became a $50 million problem due to deferred maintenance by the city. Tarwater is “100% behind” reopening Blue River Road as a result of a revitalization effort by the city and county. 

If elected as County Executive in November, Tarwater said he will not run for reelection or election to any other seat: “I’m done,” he said. “I plan on serving and letting someone younger come in once it’s fixed.”

Manuel Abarca IV

Former Legislative Chair Manuel Abarca IV is still in the Executive race, but he has stepped back from campaigning. Abarca currently serves as Legislator for the 1st District. In July, he was replaced as Chair by At-Large 2nd District Legislator Donna Peyton in a 7-0 vote. The vote came after Abarca made public allegations of bribery against colleagues in the legislature to the Jackson County Sheriff and on Facebook.

Frank White’s recall wasn’t the right time for Abarca to assume county leadership, and he wasn’t sure about the 2026 election either, he said. Abarca was still confident in the county’s future when LeVota and McGee were still in the race, but he got worried when Tarwater filed. Abarca said Tarwater was among the Legislators who “sat on their hands and did nothing” after the initial dramatic tax bill increase after 2019 property assessments.

Abarca said it was he who introduced recall election language to the Jackson County Legislature, which made ousting Frank White possible. He supports the Legislature’s implementation of the new Tax Credit Program. He added the fixes go beyond just one executive order or ordinance: the Legislature has also introduced legislation pertaining to taxpayers who have moved since the debacle and canceled the county’s Delinquent Land Tax Sale planned for August.

Asked about the Tax Credit Program’s impact on taxing jurisdictions, Abarca criticized Jackson County governance and appeals structure — not public school, library and mental health funding — for the mess. He said that taxes were dramatically increased because Jackson County lied about needed remedial tax increases. Abarca reaffirmed his support for the Tax Credit Program, citing his expertise as former Treasurer for KCPS, the county’s largest taxing jurisdiction.

“I’m ready to open it. Let’s go,” Abarca said about Blue River Road, adding that revitalization is a matter of political will that will require collaboration. Abarca hosted a community tour of the closed portions last year, highlighting the county’s “disinvested assets.” He compared the road to Cliffs Drive in northeast Kansas City, which dealt with similar blight and deterioration before it was converted into a pedestrian trail. 

Both Abarca and wife Alexis Garcia both face misdemeanor charges, still before courts, in their ongoing divorce. Abarca acknowledged that he has stayed generally silent on the charges and divorce, noting he will have his day in court to address “factually inaccurate information.”