On Tuesday, September 30th, Jackson County voters took to the polls for an unusual special election to vote on one question, just sixteen words in length:
“Shall Frank White, Jr. be recalled from the office of County Executive in Jackson County, Missouri?”
A “yes” vote would end the tenure of the embattled second-term county executive a little more than a year early than when his term would end.
A “no” vote would allow White to finish out the last year-and-some-change of his second term, with elections for his replacement scheduled for next year, with White having publicly said that he did not intend to run for reelection.
Voters chose to recall White in an absolute landslide.
Voters in eastern Jackson County early voted to recall White in huge numbers, putting him in a nearly 6,000 vote hole before election day votes began to be counted.
By the end of election day, White’s political fate was sealed. Jackson County voters came out and voted 85.2% (64,469 votes) in favor of recalling him compared to just 14.8% (11,191 votes) voting against his recall.
Nearly 70% of all the votes in this election came from rural and suburban Jackson County. The “Yes” vote won in some parts of Jackson County by more than 95%.
Why the Recall?
White’s tenure at Jackson County had been a bumpy one. Property tax increases under his leadership were handled in a way that almost led to him losing his bid for a second term, both in the primary and the general. A decidedly difficult back-and-forth relationship with the county legislature became a source of near constant drama that frequently bled into the headlines.
Prior to politics, White was a heavily decorated second baseman for the Kansas City Royals, where he spent his entire career. White, who played from 1973 to 1990, was a five-time All-Star, won eight Gold Glove Awards, was the 1980 American League Championship Series Most Valuable Player, and helped the team win the 1985 World Series. After baseball, White worked as a professional coach and television sports commentator.
In 2014, White was elected to the Jackson County Legislature as the 1st District At-Large member, beating his opponent by more than 13%.
On January 11, 2016, White was unanimously appointed county executive, following the resignation of Mike Saunders, by his peers on the Jackson County Legislature. He then won reelection to that role in 2018 and 2022.
His 2022 election campaign showed significant cracks in his trust with the general public. White faced a surprisingly tough primary against newcomer Stacy Lake, a young lawyer, and only beat his Republican challenger and former colleague, Theresa Cass Galvin, by 11.82%, a small margin for a county as reliably Democrat as Jackson. Galvin, who had personal and professional ties to labor, had received a small amount of support from some unions.
White’s relationship with the Jackson County legislature and the general public was almost immediately sour. Increases to property valuations, questions around processes, debates over ARPA money, and more spilled into the public in ways that were frequently embarrassing for Jackson County residents. A recent poll found that a whopping 78% of likely voters in Jackson County viewed the Jackson County government, meaning the executive and legislature as a whole, either “somewhat unfavorable” or “strongly unfavorable.”
Frustration with White’s leadership, boosted by anger over the 2019 and 2023 assessment process, led to a recall petition gathering the required number of signatures to force a vote.
Labor & Frank White III
White is formerly a member of Laborers Local 264. He scraped mortar and sealed floors during the construction of Kauffman Stadium.
White, who had received significant backing from organized labor throughout his career, quickly developed a contentious relationship with the area’s unions. Frustration between construction unions, who felt anger over internal department head practices and who had disagreed with White’s approach to the stadium conversation, and unions representing workers in units employed by Jackson County, who also felt as though internal practices had taken a less-than-pro-labor bend in recent years, eventually leading to a near radio-silence relationship.
Despite the tense relationship, organized labor in Kansas City did not collectively endorse the recall of White or actively campaign the public for that outcome.
What Now?
The Chairman of the Legislature, DaRon McGee, is now allowed to pick the temporary person to fill the position of Executive for up to one month, an interim. The legislature would then pick White’s replacement, with only 5 of the 9 votes needed to win this role. The replacement Executive would complete the remainder of the term that White was originally elected to, which runs until the end of 2026.
Of the existing members of the County Legislature, DaRon McGee, representing Grandview and southwestern Jackson County in the 4th District seat, and Charlie Franklin, who represents north-central Jackson County and Independence in the 3rd District seat, have expressed interest in running.
Dan Tarwater, a former Jackson County Legislator, and Phil LeVota, formerly an attorney with the Jackson County prosecutor’s office, both have also been rumored to be campaigning for the seat.
All members of the Jackson County Legislature will have to run for reelection in 2026, with primaries in August.
Voters, politicos, and union leaders alike from across the political spectrum are just hoping for a more calm, boring Jackson County government moving forward. Time will tell.
Tristin Amezcua-Hogan is the Editor of The Labor Beacon and a member of LIUNA Local 264. Tristin also serves as the Director of Communications for the Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO and the Chair of the Kansas City Regional Transit Alliance.
Tristin grew up as the son of a UA Local 669 member in Tecumseh, KS and the great-nephew of George C. Amis, longtime leader of the United Rubberworkers (now USW Local 307) in Kansas. Growing up in rural Kansas as the child of teen parents, Tristin quickly came to appreciate the life-changing benefit of a union job.
Tristin and his partner, Rebeca Amezcua-Hogan, are residents of the Westside, Kansas City, MO's historic Mexican neighborhood. They are proud members of Kansas City's New Reform Temple.
