Kansas City Tenants Union Celebrates as Endorsed Candidates Advance to General Election

A tenants union in Kansas City on Tuesday credited a major grassroots effort with ensuring its six endorsed progressive candidates for city council seats moved on to the general election, bringing the city a step closer to what Mayor Quinton Lucas said could become "the most progressive city council that we have seen in Kansas City's history."

KC Tenants was formed in 2019 and has organized tenants unions at several apartment complexes as well as winning a Tenants' Bill of Rights and tenants' right to counsel.

The group endorsed candidates including Michael Kelley, a policy director for a non-profit that works to make Kansas City's streets more walkable and safe for bikers, and Jenay Manley and Johnathan Duncan, both KC Tenants organizers.

KC Tenants also backed three incumbent City Council members: Melissa Robinson, Eric Bunch, and Andrea Bough, who helped pass legislation to invest in a trust fund for affordable housing in the city, creating more than 120 transitional housing units for people facing homelessness.

In races with just two candidates, both move on to the general election, and in races with three or more contenders, the top two advance. With the exception of Robinson, all of KC Tenants' endorsed contenders were in races with three or more candidates, and all advanced to the general election, which will be held on June 20.

The union's success in the primary election represented "a resounding win for poor and working-class people in Kansas City," said KC Tenants Power, the political lobbying arm of KC Tenants.

The group attributed Tuesday's victories to a grassroots campaign in which organizers knocked on more than 12,000 doors, called nearly 9,000 voters, and ensured at least 10,541 people saw the organization's voter guide.

"This is about us coming together and building power together," said Manley. "We are not done tonight. We are not done in June. We are not done after we win the election... Our city is living and breathing, and we will always knock on our neighbors' doors in pursuit of a better city and a better world."

Another organizer, Brandon Henderson, said in a statement that the group has demonstrated that "a new type of political muscle is possible in Kansas City and the nation."

"We ran the biggest volunteer program this cycle in the state of Missouri," he said. "KC Tenants Power is a force to be reckoned with."

KC Tenants Power noted that Duncan will now face an opponent, former county legislator Dan Tarwater, who is more widely known to Kansas City voters.

"What his opponent has in name recognition, Johnathan has in vision, people power, and clear-eyed conviction," said the group. "It's a ground game in this race, and there's no stronger ground game than ours."

The advancement of the group's supported candidates "was not a given," said KC Tenants Power. "It was the result of diligent organizing."

KC Tenants Power now aims to knock on 30,000 doors before the general election.

"There's so much work ahead, but a better Kansas City is within reach," said the group. "You better believe we will be hitting the pavement, knocking more doors than ever, and organizing like our lives depend on it—they do."