Lesbian Jolie Justus Loses Kansas City Mayoral Race

Jolie Justus, seeking to become the fourth lesbian elected to lead a major U.S. city this year, has lost her race for mayor of Kansas City, Mo., to Quinton Lucas.

With more than 90 percent of precincts reporting Tuesday night, Lucas had 59 percent of to Justus's 41 percent, assuring his victory, Kansas City TV station WDAF reports.

Both Justus and Lucas were members of the City Council, with the election marking the first time in 20 years that sitting council members faced each other for mayor. The incumbent mayor, Sly James, is retiring due to term limits. Both Justus and Lucas are Democrats, but Kansas City municipal elections are nonpartisan.

While Justus is a white lesbian and Lucas a straight African-American man, their race did not focus on identity. Justus's sexual orientation was not an issue, and when a union supporting Justus sent out a flier that used a photo of Lucas deemed racist -- the image was dark and grainy -- Justus herself criticized the choice of photo, and the union apologized.

The two have similar ideologies -- The Kansas City Star, which endorsed Lucas, called both "smart, progressive lawyers running for heart-in-the-right-place reasons" -- and they both ran on a platform of serving all of Kansas City's neighborhoods. To distinguish themselves from each other, Justus played up her closeness to James and said she would build on the work he's done, while Lucas portrayed himself as an outsider and a coalition builder. He also had a compelling personal story, having been homeless as a child but eventually becoming a lawyer with an Ivy League education. At age 34, he is now the youngest person elected mayor of Kansas City in half a century, the Star reports.

Justus and Lucas, and their supporters, did a bit of sniping during the campaign. Justus characterized Lucas as untrustworthy, and late in the campaign some voters received text messages accusing her of being "negative and desperate" and citing the controversial flier. Lucas said his organization had nothing to do with the messages.

"Despite tension in the final weeks of the campaign, both candidates had indicated they would offer their support to the other in the event of a loss," the Star notes.

In giving her concession speech, Justus hugged and thanked her wife, Lucy, and pledged to continue working to make Kansas City safe, diverse, and equitable.