German May attorney Quinton Lucas elected Kansas City mayor

Kansas City residents voted June 18 to elevate attorney and city councilmember  Quinton Lucas to the mayor’s office.

Lucas, 34, won 58.5 percent of the vote, with 39,216 votes cast in his favor, according to unofficial results from Jackson, Clay and Platte Counties.

His opponent, Jolie Justus, 48, also an attorney and councilmember, received 41.4 percent of the vote overall.

Lucas edged out Justus in Jackson County with 63 percent of the vote, while the race was closer to a tie in the suburban Northland counties. Justus won 53 percent of the vote in Platte County and 50.8 percent in Clay County.

Lucas is of-counsel with German May, where his practice includes business litigation, white collar and appellate work. He is also an associate professor at the University of Kansas School of Law. He earned his law degree from Cornell University in 2009, then clerked for Judge Duane Benton of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

His platform focused on affordable housing and reducing crime, among other issues. He will take office Aug 1.

Lucas could not be reached for comment immediately after the election. But The Associated Press reported that he spoke of “fairness for everyone” in his victory speech on June 18.

“Our final mandate is this: No matter who we are, no matter where you are, no matter what circumstance you find yourself in, in our Kansas City we always believe that you have an opportunity. We always believe that you can persevere,” Lucas said. “In our Kansas City we believe that whatever has happened in your past does not dictate your future.”

Justus, 48, is director of pro bono services for Shook, Hardy & Bacon. She served for eight years as a Democratic state senator, where she helped to lead a massive effort to rewrite the state’s criminal code. She earned her law degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1998.

Lucas will replace Sly James, who is term-limited. James, an attorney and past president of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, congratulated Lucas in a statement and pledged to ensure a smooth transition to the new administration. James endorsed Justus in the election.

“While we may have had our disagreements, I know that Mayor-elect Lucas shares my love for our city and will work hard to serve its residents,” he said. “I look forward to working with Mayor-elect Lucas in the coming years, and I wish him the utmost success.”

In addition to the mayoral race, the council gained another attorney councilmember in Andrea Bough of Lewis Rice. Bough won her race for the council’s 6th District At-Large seat with 62 percent of the vote, handily beating her opponent Stacey Johnson-Cosby, a real estate agent.

Bough is a development attorney who specializes in land use. She earned her law degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2000. Her husband, Stephen R. Bough, is a federal judge.

“I’m very humbled by the voters’ confidence in me, and I’m anxious to get started on the issues we’ve been talking about the last 10 months,” she said, citing violent crime, housing and the need to improve basic city services.

She said her nearly 20 years of experience as an attorney working with city governments puts her in a unique position as an incumbent.

“I have some understanding of how city governments work,” she said. “So when I start on Aug.  1, I will at least have a background in city government.”