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Lesbian Jolie Justus Loses Kansas City Mayoral Race

Jolie Justus and Quinton Lucas

Justus lost to fellow City Council member Quinton Lucas in a race where her sexual orientation was a nonissue.

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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.

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Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.