As expected, there was a flurry of activity on the last full day before the 2023 candidate filing and withdrawal deadline at noon Thursday.
Incumbent Gary Heine filed for reelection to the USD 251 Board of Education position 1. He now joins fellow incumbent David Goldsmith, who is seeking re-election to Position 2, and Position 7 incumbent Matt Horton, who filed Wednesday.
USD 252 Southern Lyon County also had its third filing for Position 4, currently held by Kevin Flott who will not be seeking re-election after more than a decade on the board. Becky Ballinger now joins Justin Farr and Brad Hoelting as the latest newcomer seeking to fill the seat. One more candidate will be needed to force a primary for this seat. The USD 252 field also includes Position 1 incumbent Gene Windle and Position 5 incumbent Emily Darbyshire. Position 7 incumbent Charles Steffes is now being challenged by Amanda Bess, who filed Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a pair of mayoral filings also came Wednesday. Julia Buckridge filed for Neosho Rapids Mayor and will face incumbent Dallas Shepherd who filed last week. Also on the Neosho Rapids ballot are Incumbents Karla Mendoza, Brian Shank and Tess Shepherd for City Council.
In a separate mayoral race, incumbent Kenny Hamman is seeking re-election as the Mayor of Hartford.
Reading City Council incumbents Marc Atchison and Kevin Sorenson also filed Wednesday, joining fellow incumbent Billy Paige on the ballot. They are currently the only candidates on the Reading City Council ballot.
Elsewhere in Lyon County, the Emporia City Commission field currently has all incumbents — Erren Harter, Jamie Sauder and Becky Smith — and challenger Will Spencer on the ballot. In Allen, incumbent Michael Houston is on the City Council Ballot, while incumbents Kayla Burton and Nicolette Nuessen are on the Americus City Council ballot.
While those boards have seen candidate traffic, there have been no candidates so far for Admire mayor or City Council, Allen mayor, Bushong City Council, Hartford City Council Positions 3 or 5 or Olpe mayor or City Council. Also, no candidates have filed for USD 251 Position 3.
As far as school boards go, the Emporia Board of Education has all incumbents filing for re-election, including Jeremy Dorsey, Art Gutierrez, Grant Riles and Leslie Seeley, and two newcomers — Christy Grant and Sam Tovar — now on the ballot.
KVOE News will have a complete list of Lyon County candidates Thursday afternoon.
