Left to right, top to bottom: Bob Schumm, Kristine Polian, Bart Littlejohn, Michael Courtney

Two former mayors, a former housing authority official and a longtime tech industry worker have advanced to the general election for the Lawrence City Commission after the primary election Tuesday.

Tuesday’s primary trimmed a field of 13 candidates for the two City Commission seats down to just four for the Nov. 4 general election. The top four vote-getters, according to the unofficial results posted on the Douglas County Clerk’s website on Tuesday, were: Bob Schumm with 2,327 votes, Kristine Polian with 1,947, Bart Littlejohn with 1,941 and Michael Courtney with 1,903.

Schumm, the top vote-getter, has been a familiar face at City Hall, as he has served multiple times on the City Commission before and has served as mayor. He also has been a fixture in the Lawrence business community, having owned and operated restaurants in Lawrence for 45 years.

Schumm, who earned 17.59% of the vote, said that it “feels good” to have earned the most votes in the primary, and that the results showed that Lawrence voters wanted someone with experience. He also said the results were a “de facto election” on the issue of rec center fees. During the campaign, Schumm had spoken out against a proposal from the city to add membership fees for residents to use the city’s recreation centers.

photo by: Bremen Keasey

Bob Schumm, left, at the Douglas County Elections Office, 711 W. 23rd St., looks over the results of voting for Tuesday’s primary election. Schumm, a former mayor of Lawrence is one of four candidates along with Kristine Polian, Bart Littlejohn and Mike Courtney to advance to the general election in November.

Behind Schumm were three candidates separated by only a few dozen votes in the unofficial count: Polian, Littlejohn and Courtney.

Polian, who previously served as the chief financial officer for the Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority, told the Journal-World she felt grateful to the community for trusting her and voting for her. She said that she started as a relatively unknown candidate, but has now made a statement that she “can make a difference” to the city.

Polian has experience working in finance and city management in cities across the country, and she said her first goal if elected would be to establish more community trust. Though she’s happy with the primary results, she said she still has work to do to make voters aware of the state of the city and make sure they are paying attention.

“The joy I feel right now is immense and will be short lived,” Polian said. “There is still a lot to do.”

Littlejohn, a current city commissioner and former mayor, was the only incumbent running in this election; the other one whose term is expiring, City Commissioner Lisa Larsen, did not file for reelection.

Littlejohn, who was at Tuesday’s City Commission meeting during the entirety of the vote-counting process, said after the meeting that he had expected a close race given how large the field was for the primary election. He said during the general election campaign leading up to November’s election, he will continue to talk about strategies for affordable housing and increased economic development that could lessen the tax burden on residents.

“I think those issues are critical to the well being of our town,” Littlejohn said. “Honestly, after that, I’m just going to listen.”

Courtney is a small business owner who worked in the tech industry for 25 years at a variety of firms. He told the Journal-World Tuesday night that was humbled by the support from the community. He said his campaign was started after talking on the porch with neighbors about affordability issues in the city, and advancing to the general election confirmed his message connected with voters.

Courtney said he wanted to keep the focus on some of his biggest concerns, including making sure single-family homes are available and affordable and working to reduce other costs like utility rates. That will include coming up with solutions to the problems Lawrence is facing and presenting those ideas to voters so he can offer “not just words, but concrete plans.”

The total turnout for the primary election was 11.25%. County Clerk Jamie Shew said that number was “pretty good” for a primary.

Here is the list of candidates with vote totals from the unofficial results:

• Bob Schumm: 2,327

• Kristine Polian: 1,947

• Bart Littlejohn: 1,941

• Michael Courtney: 1,903

• Courtney Shipley: 1,784

• Paul Buskirk: 1,280

• Mike Harreld: 619

• Amanda Nielsen: 472

• Peter Shenouda: 400

• Ruby Mae Johnson: 188

• Steve Jacob: 183

• Alex Kerr: 126

• Eric Hyde: 62

— Journal-World Editor Chad Lawhorn contributed to this report.