Jolie Lippitt
From Ballotpedia
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Jolie Lippitt ran for election to the Topeka City Council to represent District 1 in Kansas. She lost in the primary on August 5, 2025.
Lippitt completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Jolie Lippitt was born in Madison, Wisconsin. Lippitt's career experience includes working in advocacy.[1]
Elections
2025
See also: City elections in Topeka, Kansas (2025)
General election
General election for Topeka City Council District 1
Incumbent Karen Hiller defeated William Naeger in the general election for Topeka City Council District 1 on November 4, 2025.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Karen Hiller (Nonpartisan) | 50.8 | 691 | |
 | William Naeger (Nonpartisan)  | 48.1 | 654 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 1.1 | 15 | ||
| Total votes: 1,360 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Topeka City Council District 1
The following candidates ran in the primary for Topeka City Council District 1 on August 5, 2025.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Karen Hiller (Nonpartisan) | 45.1 | 377 | |
| ✔ | | William Naeger (Nonpartisan) | 23.9 | 200 |
 | Jolie Lippitt (Nonpartisan) | 14.4 | 120 | |
| Brendan Jensen (Nonpartisan) | 8.3 | 69 | ||
 | Tyler Jaggers (Nonpartisan) | 6.2 | 52 | |
| Eli Bohannan (Nonpartisan) | 2.2 | 18 | ||
| Total votes: 836 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Lippitt in this election.
Campaign themes
2025
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Jolie Lippitt completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Lippitt's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I am a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation and a single mother who has overcome immense adversity, including foster care, domestic violence, and justice involvement. I sought refuge in Topeka in 2018 with my child and limited resources and secured stable housing. Since then, I dedicated myself to eliminating barriers for vulnerable residents. Passionate about reform, I have worked closely with organizations serving Topeka’s most at-risk citizens. I believe that addressing affordable housing, mental health, homelessness, and rehabilitation is crucial to Topeka's growth. My lived experience drives her advocacy for community support and systemic change. Now, I am seeking to serve as District 1 Councilwoman in order to ensure we have a voice for the underserved. I have worked closely in & with organizations who serve Topeka’s most exposed citizens. District 1 is central to the issues which plague our community. We can no longer afford leadership personally disconnected from the struggles & daily challenges of our most vulnerable. If Topeka’s leadership prioritized those citizens and worked to eliminate their vulnerabilities, the economy & infrastructure of Topeka will blossom like never before.
- As Topeka’s District 1 City Councilwoman, I will address gun violence and crime through community-based intervention, youth engagement, and improved crisis response strategies. Addressing the root causes—poverty, lack of opportunity, and unaddressed trauma—is key to creating lasting change. I will advocate for partnerships that provide mentorship, job training, and alternatives to violence.
- To combat homelessness and the lack of affordable housing, I will expand access to transitional housing, eviction prevention programs, and low-income housing opportunities. Partnering with developers and community organizations will help create more affordable housing while ensuring protections for vulnerable residents. Stable housing is the foundation for community safety and economic growth.
- Substance use and mental health struggles must be treated as public health issues, not just criminal matters. I will push for harm reduction programs, increased mental health funding, and treatment-focused alternatives to incarceration. Strengthening collaboration between law enforcement and social services will ensure individuals get the support they need instead of punishment.
Trust me to champion for affordable housing, homelessness, gun violence reduction, and community health access. As District 1 Councilwoman, I’ll push for reform, collaboration, transparency & solutions that work. We need leaders willing to speak up and refuse to look the other way. I promise to relentlessly advocate for residents in my district, and those neighbors who are falling through the cracks. We are not drowning because of our residents’ plight. We are drowning because there are holes in our boat.
Your city councilperson has the ability to assist you in making sure your concerns, questions & ideas for your neighborhood are heard. They are responsible to you, the voter. They have the ability and the power to help amplify the issues in the district they represent by assisting to ensure concerns are heard, plans if applicable, are moved forward, they can help raise awareness if an issue is being overlooked, they can begin & assist in implementation of projects to enhance safety, lawfulness, & wellness in their district. They can also participate in partnering with other council representatives when a unified approach may be necessary for completion. They do offer their votes. But make no mistake, they are "supposed" to be tethered to their voters and their votes are "supposed" to reflect the voice of the district they represent.
1. Integrity
2. Honesty
3. Grit
4. Transparency
5. Adaptability
6. Diplomacy
7. Grace
8. Foresight
9. Faithfulness
10. Vision
11. Advocacy
12. Resiliency
13. Trustworthiness
Our councilperson needs to stay in touch with those they represent. They need to be accountable to their constituents for the long-haul, not just during a race or when they are up for re-election. They need to be someone who is of us, by us and for us, not just present at the ribbon cuttings but there in the mud when things are hard. They need to know what is happening in their district, ALL of their district, not just the pretty or pleasant parts. They also need to be a faithful liaison, making sure that the public who put them in their seat, knows about upcoming projects which affect them & to be a hands-on, point of contact for those who put them there.
9/11. I will never forget it, where I was, what time it was, the whole scenario. I was in fifth grade, in science class.
When I was fourteen, I got a summer internship at a local newspaper through a local community resource that served at-risk youth and provided participants with job readiness skills such as resume building, mock interview services & a ton of other skills I still use. The job was great, along with office work & office related duties, I also wrote my very first published work, an article that was a tribute to my grandmother. I finished my internship successfully & ended on great terms. It was a 3-month long commitment.
The Kite Runner will probably always be my favorite book because I wholeheartedly appreciate the story and the art of it, as well as the tragedy. In my own way, I relate.
The Incredible Hulk
Juicy By Biggie
Overcoming systemic barriers, injustice, stigma & traumas have been a consistent presence in my life. It was equipped me & serves me well in almost every area of my life. I am a survivor & I will continue to fight to break down barriers which halt others, to fight stigmas & to change the systems that affect me, my family, loved ones & neighbors.
Instead of pushing the public to exhaust their own time, energy and efforts, the district councilperson can take on some of the burden when it comes to pushing projects forward, helping their constituents be heard & seeing that the voice of their constituents is heard & the vision is carried out. There is a more hands-on approach that is an option for a district councilperson. They have the ability and the responsibility, to use their position to affect positive change, not only in the city but in their district, which can take many forms. Some examples include, using their position, resources & relationships to follow-up on issues presented to them by a constituent, advocating for issues brought to them by a constituent on the city council floor, helping NIAs clarify questions, liaising between the city & their district regularly, keeping residents informed on the decisions being made & more. The district councilperson does not only have the ability to suggest that their constituents file a petition or do more work. Essentially, this falls under the job title.
Sometimes yes. Sometimes, however, a person who has served for a long period of time, loses touch with those they are supposed to be representing & advocating & championing for. I believe when this happens, they need to be voted out. I will hold myself to this standard and happily step aside for those coming in behind me.
I have the unique perspective of being someone from an underprivileged, underserved, at-risk background. I am a person of reform. With this background, I have dedicated my life to advocating, assisting & liaising for people from similar backgrounds. I will use my working knowledge, natural leadership & other skills, community awareness, community-mental-health-professional background, community relationships and my robust toolkit to serve this community in a way that will be unique to me & unlikely to be duplicated by my opponents. I will use every ounce of my lived, personal and professional experiences, talents and resources to serve my district, my constituents and my community!
It's the backbone of a successful democracy & should be non-negotiable.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2025 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 1, 2025
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