photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Ethan Spurling is pictured on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026 during the Douglas County Democratic Party's watch party for the primary election.

Updated at 10:38 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026.

Democrat Ethan Spurling won against his incumbent opponent in the primary, and he will run unopposed in the election in November.

Spurling received 1,961 votes for the District 4 seat on the Douglas County Commission. District 4 includes a small portion of southeastern Lawrence, Eudora and Eudora Township and the small portion of Wakarusa Township located between Grant Township and the eastern edge of Lawrence. His opponent, incumbent Democrat Gene Dorsey garnered 1,661 votes, according to unofficial election results.

Spurling told the Journal-World on Tuesday that while the primary win would mean a lot to him, “I think it means more for Douglas County.”

“In a healthy democracy, it’s important for voters to have choices, and in this particular primary, in the fourth County Commission district, my campaign was about offering … voters a progressive option, and that’s what we did.”

Spurling said the most pressing issue facing Douglas County is affordable housing, whether it be for renters or homeowners. Spurling said he wanted to partner with organizations such as Lawrence Tenants, a renter-led organization advocating for renters rights and recently urged the county commissioners to implement a tenants eviction defense pilot program.

“(I want) to partner with movements like Lawrence Tenants to look at some of those pilot programs that are innovative, that are progressive in doing what we can to address affordability, doing what we can to make sure that people stay in their homes, and doing what we can to work upstream and comprehensively to keep people housed.”

Spurling was elected to the Frontenac City Council in 2015 and served for four years. After attending college at Pittsburg State University, he worked on Gov. Laura Kelly’s campaign and in her administration, including roles in the governor’s office and as director of government affairs at the Kansas Department of Revenue. He now works in policy and government relations for a Lawrence-based education nonprofit.

While Spurling said he wants to aim to represent every resident in Douglas County, he was hopeful for a Eudora resident on the County Commission.

“It’s very meaningful to me that I live in Eudora, and currently Eudora does not have representation, in that nobody from Eudora is elected to the County Commission,” Spurling said. ” … I want to make sure that the residents of Eudora feel represented, feel heard, and know that the Douglas County government is not just a government of Lawrence, but it’s a government of the county.”