Quinton Lucas

Quinton Lucas (born August 19, 1984)^[1] is an American politician serving as the 55th and current mayor of Kansas City, Missouri. He was elected in 2019 and is the city's third African-American mayor. Before his election, he was a law school professor, community leader, and city council member.

Early life and education[]

Lucas was born in Kansas City, Missouri to Quincy Bennett Johnson, a single mother. At a young age, Lucas earned a scholarship to attend the Barstow School, a private school far removed from the harsh economic realities of Kansas City's east side. "He saw we were struggling," Johnson said. "One time we lived in a hotel, and it was horrible. Quinton would go in the bathroom to study."^[1][2] Lucas never met his father.^[3]

Determined to overcome poverty, Lucas devoted himself to school. He was elected student body president twice and was one of the top students in his class, but he experienced a conflict of identity as his ambitions clashed with the roots he had put down. In this time at Barstow, he found himself forming lifelong relationships and felt reluctant about leaving Kansas City upon graduation.^[4] Encouraged by his college counselor, Lucas decided to attend Washington University.

In college, Lucas majored in political science and studied abroad in South Africa.^[5] Living in Cape Town, he closely studied the politics and culture of apartheid. This experience strongly influenced Lucas' perception of the inequalities experienced by Black people in the United States.^[4]

He attended law school at Cornell, where he was encouraged by a professor to assist in Curtis Osborne's appeal for clemency. Though the appeal failed, Lucas found the legal experience to be transformative.^[6]

Quinton Lucas joined the University of Kansas faculty of Law in 2012. At KU, he taught administrative law, contract law, and securities regulation.^[7]

Political career[]

In 2015, Lucas won a city council seat representing the Third-District-at-Large, gaining more than 70% of the vote.^[8] His message was concerned with bridging the gaps between east and west in a divided city. When asked about the greatest challenge facing Kansas City, Lucas said, "How do we get people from jobs in my part of the city, the east side of Kansas City, off into other parts of the city or even to Kansas?"^[9]

Housing policy became a primary focus once Lucas joined the city council. His housing policy was geared toward the symmetrical development of new housing supply along with the renovation of existing properties.^[10] Lucas played a decisive role in shaping a 2018 ordinance that defined affordable rent as equaling 30% or less of the city's median income, which was then $1,100 a month.^[11] In an interview with the Kansas City Business Journal, Lucas said that "$1,000 a month is still pretty high for a lot of people, but what we’re trying to do is say that we will not give incentives based on affordability standards for units that are north of that figure.”^[12]

During discussions surrounding the finance and development of a new airport in August of 2017, Lucas emerged as a firm advocate for transparency, disagreeing with Mayor Sly James. “My concern is I continue to believe we overuse closed sessions,” Lucas told The Kansas City Star. “I think the spirit of the Sunshine Law is not for council to deliberate on myriad issues on public policy in secret.”^[13]

In January of 2018, Lucas proposed a five-point targeted strategy for reducing crime: (1) fund social workers in each police patrol division, (2) deploy officers to economically distressed areas and not just entertainment districts, (3) recruit diverse candidates for the police force, (4) challenge the necessity of incarcerating citizens for municipal offenses, and (5) appeal to the state of Missouri to adequately fund Kansas City's criminal justice system to lighten the load of public defender cases and improve overall pay.^[14]

In October of 2018, police in Lawrence, Kansas "got a call of an unconscious man at 8th and Massachusetts. [Officers] found Lucas asleep in his car." He "was booked for misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs ... and released on a $750 bond."^[15] Lucas said that he "had attended an event where he drank alcohol and decided to wait in his car until he felt it was safe for him to drive." The charges were later dropped.^[16]

In the 2019 mayoral election, 11 candidates ran to replace term-limited incumbent Sly James.^[17] The field later narrowed to Lucas and fellow city council member Jolie Justus. Lucas won after receiving approximately 59% of the vote.^[18]

On March 10, 2020, Lucas attempted to vote in the Missouri Democratic presidential primary, but was turned away at the polls because a worker mistakenly entered his name as "Lucas Quinton."^[19] The mayor used the incident to highlight the importance of voting, and his tweet describing the situation received over 13,000 likes.^[20] He later returned to the polls and successfully cast a vote.

In late August of 2020, citizens organized a petition to remove Lucas from office, but were unsuccessful. These petitioners criticized Lucas's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and said that his mask regulations were harming the city's small businesses.^[21]

Personal life[]

Quinton Lucas married his longtime girlfriend Katherine Carttar on April 9, 2021.^[22] That same month, the couple welcomed a son who they named Bennett.^[23] Lucas lives in the historic 18th and Vine district.

Lucas is a noted avid fan of the Kansas City Chiefs. The New York Times found that he takes exceptionally detailed notes on the performances of Kansas City sports teams.^[24]

See also[]

• List of mayors of the 50 largest cities in the United States

References[]

External links[]

• Mayor Quinton Lucas official KCMO website
• Quinton Lucas for KC Quinton Lucas for KC Mayor Official Campaign website