photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Douglas County Commission candidates speak at a candidate forum on Tuesday, June 23, 2026.

Douglas County commission candidates discussed several local challenges at a candidate forum on Tuesday – including affordability, trust in government and data center development.

The candidate forum was hosted by the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce at KU Innovation Park, 2033 Becker Drive, on Tuesday morning. All of the candidates for the County Commission’s three open seats were in attendance except for District 4 candidate Ethan Spurling, a Democrat.

All three incumbents have filed for reelection. District 1 Commissioner Patrick Kelly, a Democrat, will be up against Democratic candidate Milton Scott in the upcoming primary election; incumbent Gene Dorsey, a Democrat currently representing District 4, will run against Spurling in the primary; and Democratic incumbent Erica Anderson, who represents District 5, will face Libertarian candidate Kirsten Kuhn in the general election this fall.

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Current County Commissioner Patrick Kelly, a Democrat representing District 1, speaks at a candidate forum on Tuesday, June 23, 2026.

A question that led to a bulk of the discussion on Tuesday was what candidates thought was the greatest challenge facing Douglas County and how they would approach it.

Kelly said it has become expensive to live in Douglas County, and it needs to be easier for people to live here. However, he said a lot of partners are already trying to make that happen, such as with efforts to divert some 911 callers from utilizing expensive emergency services that they don’t actually need.

“It’s hard for businesses to recruit, it’s hard for people to stay here, and so we need to be very mindful of that. At the same time, what we need to celebrate is the great services that we provide in Douglas County,” Kelly said.

Anderson said that one of the greatest challenges the county faces is trust, and that collaboration needs to improve.

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Milton Scott, a Democratic County Commission candidate for District 1, speaks on Tuesday, June 23, 2026 at a candidate forum.

“We really need to come together as a community and really sit down with our various elected bodies and have conversations about how we want to move forward together with our various plans,” Anderson said. “We have so many plans that are disparate, that are siloed, so many different entities that are having conversations in different rooms and no one is talking to each other.”

Kuhn raised concerns about the balance of power between county staff and elected officials, arguing that commissioners — not administrators — should set the direction of county discussions.

“I’ve experienced this as a constituent myself, and it is not the role of (county) administration to dictate or order what the commission will be doing,” Kuhn said. “It’s the commissioner’s role to tell staff what to do, and that has been an ongoing problem that no one wants to talk about.”

The candidates were also asked their opinions on data centers and whether or not they belong in Douglas County.

Dorsey said he thinks it depends on the size of the data center because he doesn’t think any site in the county could accommodate the “hyperscalers” people are often concerned about.

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Current County Commissioner Gene Dorsey, a Democrat representing District 4, speaks at a candidate forum on Tuesday, June 23, 2026.

“I don’t think there’s anywhere in the county that could currently handle a large data center due to the water district issues and the lack of volume of water that these things require,” Dorsey said.

Dorsey pointed out that KU Innovation Park currently has a small data center to support pilot AI workloads and applied research projects, which is why the size of the development would matter in any decision he made.

Scott said the community needs to define what’s best and whether data centers belong in the county. Scott said he has seen communities go out of their way to fight against these developments once they arise, and he wants to represent the people in Douglas County.

“We’ve seen … city after city address this particular matter,” Scott said. “We should be on the forefront of deciding it. What I don’t want to happen is having property owners or individuals fighting this fight.”

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Libertarian Kirsten Kuhn, a County Commission candidate for District 5, speaks on Tuesday, June 23, 2026 at a candidate forum.

All of the candidates at Tuesday’s forum also said they opposed an amendment that will appear on the primary election ballot, which would change the way Kansas Supreme Court justices are selected. A “yes” vote would support amending the state constitution to authorize the election of state Supreme Court justices. A “no” vote would oppose amending the constitution and would maintain the existing merit-based Supreme Court nominating commission.

The primary election will be held on Aug. 4, and the general election will take place on Nov. 3. The deadline to register to vote or update registration information for the primary is July 14.

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Current County Commissioner Erica Anderson, a Democrat representing District 5, speaks at a candidate forum on Tuesday, June 23, 2026.

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

The County Commission candidate forum held on Tuesday, June 23, 2026 was hosted by the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce.