Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
Mayoral election in Topeka, Kansas (2025)
 |
Local ballot measures • School boards • Municipal • How to run for office |
 |
|
← 2021
|
| 2025 Topeka elections |
|---|
 |
| Election dates |
| Filing deadline: June 2, 2025 |
| Primary election: August 5, 2025 General election: November 4, 2025 |
| Election stats |
| Offices up: Mayor |
| Total seats up: 1 (click here for other city elections) |
| Other municipal elections |
| U.S. municipal elections, 2025 |
The city of Topeka, Kansas, is holding a general election for mayor on November 4, 2025. A primary was scheduled for August 5, 2025. The filing deadline for this election was June 2, 2025.
As of 2025, Topeka does not have term limits for the position of mayor. Mayors serve a four-year term.
Ballotpedia comprehensively covers the 100 largest cities in the United States by population. Our coverage also includes mayors, city councils, and district attorneys in the 32 state capitals that are not already part of our largest cities coverage. Please note that there may be more offices on the ballot in this capital city than what is listed on this page.
Elections
Click on the tabs below to show more information about those topics.
Candidates and results
General election
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
General election for Mayor of Topeka
Spencer Duncan and Henry McClure are running in the general election for Mayor of Topeka on November 4, 2025.
Candidate | ||
| Spencer Duncan (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Henry McClure (Nonpartisan) | ||
| ||||
 = 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. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Mayor of Topeka
The following candidates ran in the primary for Mayor of Topeka on August 5, 2025.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Spencer Duncan (Nonpartisan) | 60.2 | 4,456 | |
| ✔ | Henry McClure (Nonpartisan) | 14.3 | 1,057 | |
| James Bolden Jr. (Nonpartisan) | 7.2 | 535 | ||
| Ed Patton (Nonpartisan) | 6.7 | 497 | ||
| Chad Fay (Nonpartisan) | 5.9 | 437 | ||
| Gabriel Killman (Nonpartisan) | 5.7 | 425 | ||
| Total votes: 7,407 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Kansas elections, 2025
August 5, 2025
November 4, 2025
Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses
Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
No candidate in this race has completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Ballotpedia is seeking 100 percent participation so voters can learn more about all the candidates on their ballots.
You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:
Candidate profiles
There are currently no candidate profiles created for this race. Candidate profiles will appear here as they are created. Encourage the candidates in this race to complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey so that their profile will appear here. You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:
Mayoral partisanship
Topeka has a Democratic mayor. As of September 2025, the mayors of 35 state capitals are affiliated with the Democratic Party, seven are Republicans, one is independent, and two are nonpartisan. The partisan affiliation of five state capital mayors is unknown. While most mayoral elections in state capital cities are nonpartisan, most officeholders are affiliated with a political party.
Help inform our readers
Take our candidate survey
- See also: Survey
At Ballotpedia, we believe that everyone deserves meaningful, reliable, trustworthy information about their candidates. We also know that good information—especially at the local level—is hard to find. That's why Ballotpedia created Candidate Connection.
We ask all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Our survey helps voters better understand how their candidates think about the world and how they intend to govern—information they need to feel confident they're picking the best person for the role.
If you are a candidate, take our survey here. Or you can ask a candidate to take the survey by sharing the link with them.
Submit endorsements
Endorsements can be particularly helpful for voters trying to decide between candidates in local races, which often feature nonpartisan candidates. Endorsements from individuals and organizations can help voters better understand policy differences between candidates in these cases where little or no other news coverage of policy stances exists.
Candidates, share endorsements here. Readers, share endorsements you know about here.
About the city
- See also: Topeka, Kansas
Topeka is a city in Shawnee County, Kansas. As of 2020, its population was 126,587.
City government
- See also: Council-manager government
The city of Topeka utilizes a council-manager system. In this form of municipal government, an elected city council, which serves as the city's primary legislative body, appoints a chief executive called a city manager to oversee day-to-day municipal operations and implement the council's policy and legislative initiatives.[1]
Demographics
The following table displays demographic data provided by the United States Census Bureau.
| Demographic Data for Topeka, Kansas | ||
|---|---|---|
| Topeka | Kansas | |
| Population | 126,587 | 2,937,880 |
| Land area (sq mi) | 61 | 81,758 |
| Race and ethnicity** | ||
| White | 76.6% | 83% |
| Black/African American | 10.5% | 5.7% |
| Asian | 1.7% | 3% |
| Native American | 0.9% | 0.8% |
| Pacific Islander | 0% | 0.1% |
| Other (single race) | N/A | 2.7% |
| Multiple | 5.5% | 4.8% |
| Hispanic/Latino | 15.3% | 12.1% |
| Education | ||
| High school graduation rate | 90.3% | 91.4% |
| College graduation rate | 28.5% | 33.9% |
| Income | ||
| Median household income | $49,647 | $61,091 |
| Persons below poverty level | 13.9% | 11.4% |
| Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2020). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2015-2020). | ||
| **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here. | ||
See also
| Topeka, Kansas | Kansas | Municipal government | Other local coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
External links
Footnotes
| |||||||||
