Commissioner David Dennis’ decision not to seek reelection to the Sedgwick County Commission has created an opportunity in District 3. Candidates Celeste Racette, the driving force behind the Save Century II movement, and Stephanie Wise, a commercial real estate broker, have stepped up to seize that opportunity.
Voters in rural western Sedgwick County, Goddard and west Wichita will soon choose between Racette, a Democrat, or Wise, a Republican. Advance voting begins on Oct. 16 and wraps up with in-person voting during the general election on Nov. 5. You can find your polling place here.
The Beacon reached out to both candidates to discuss their priorities for office and the direction of the district. Answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Who are the candidates?
Democrat Celeste Racette
In 2019, Racette gained public attention for leading the “Save Century II” campaign to preserve Wichita’s 1960s-era performing arts center. Her efforts prompted her to run for Wichita mayor last year, but she lost that bid in the primary with just under 17% of the vote.
Racette’s county commission campaign picks up on many themes of her mayoral run. She said that her 25 years of experience in finance as an auditor gives her a watchdog approach to governance. She’s running on a promise to bring “integrity, transparency and fiscal responsibility” to the county commission. Racette won the recent Democratic primary with about 76% of the vote.
She is a native of Wichita and lives in the city with her husband. The couple has five children and two grandchildren.
Republican Stephanie Wise
This is Wise’s first foray into politics. Wise has spent more than a decade in real estate as a broker and leasing agent. She is on the board of Women in Commercial Real Estate and was a former board member of Dress for Success Wichita, now known as the Women’s Network.
Wise is campaigning on a platform of “public safety, reliable infrastructure and protecting property rights.” She won with just under 49% of the vote in the recent Republican primary. Wise lives in Wichita with her husband and two children.
District 3 is the largest of the county’s districts, encompassing large swaths of rural communities and land. What are some issues that you would say are unique to your district? How will you champion your rural constituents’ needs on these issues with the needs of your urban constituents?
Racette: Providing adequate public safety is a unique challenge for District 3. The commission should be supportive of a law enforcement model that provides the appropriate level of resources to serve rural and urban neighborhoods in the district. It is essential that lines of communication be kept open among the diverse communities in the district.
Wise: There are three issues that I want to focus on to support my rural constituents.
1. Less regulations. You should not have to consult the county government to be able to remove a fence or hedgerow on your property. I want to make sure to talk to farmers and ag producers in my district to understand where the county government gets in their way of maximizing the use of their own land to their benefit and I want to work to eliminate those barriers. Our farmers and ag producers are the lifeline of our country and local community, and I want to support their needs to the fullest of my ability.
2. Maintaining good county roads and bridges to ensure the rural population of District 3 has good, safe access around the county.
3. Building and maintaining strong relationships with the mayors of the 10 cities represented in District 3.
Name a recent action taken by the Sedgwick County Commission that you support. If elected, how will you keep forward momentum on that issue?
Racette: I am in total agreement with the commission’s decision to veto the city of Goddard’s plan to give a developer $3.5 million in state incentives to build apartments at the Genesis Sports Complex. If elected, I will bring the same level of scrutiny to all economic development proposals, including tax increment financing projects initiated by municipalities within the county.
Wise: I fully support the trajectory the county is on regarding two key issues facing the constituents of Sedgwick County and District 3, in particular:
First, functional consolidation of government between Sedgwick County and the 20 cities represented within its boundaries. Modernizing and consolidating government will eliminate redundancies, produce more efficiency, and will ultimately reduce the heavy property tax burden facing the citizens of the county. I will not commit to any particular plan or idea at the present time as I will need to learn more about the ideas and proposals that are on the table and have extensive conversations with constituents and other elected officials throughout the cities. However, I fully support and am excited to participate in the course that the current county commission has put us on to achieve these ambitious goals.
Second, like functional consolidation, I am encouraged by and fully support the trajectory the county is on for property tax reform. Again, I have not committed to any particular plan or proposal at this time but will look forward to working on this issue if I am fortunate to be elected. This property tax reform, in my opinion, is the most important thing the next county commission will work on. It is something that I am committing to accomplish in my first term. The citizens of Sedgwick County, especially our seniors, need property tax relief and cannot wait on this issue any longer.
Outgoing commissioner David Dennis was the lone no vote on Sedgwick County’s recently adopted 2025 budget. How would you have voted on this budget? What will be your top funding priorities for your first year in office?
Racette: I would have looked carefully at the financial expenditures and revenue sources. With my accounting degree, MBA and certified internal auditor designation, my expertise is in financial statements. I cannot say with 100% confidence that I would vote for or against the budget. My top funding priority for the first year in office is to shepherd the RFP (request for proposals) process to construct and complete the new 100-bed mental hospital in south-central Kansas.
Wise: There were a lot of missed opportunities in the 2025 budget and I understand why Commissioner Dennis voted against it, and I appreciated his strong stance for his constituents for District 3. I agree with Commissioner Dennis’ vote and would have done the same for the following two reasons:
1. I think we should trim as much excess fat from the budget as possible for items that do not directly benefit the citizens of District 3 or support our core services.
2. I believe we could do a better job of funding the care of our seniors. Budgets are about priorities, and regarding this vote, I agree with the priorities of Commissioner Dennis and would have voted the same.
Do you support consolidation of services between the county and local communities? If yes, where do you see opportunities for consolidation? If no, why not?
Racette: I believe consolidation, where possible, can be beneficial as long as employees are allowed to transfer into open positions within the county. There may be opportunities to fund cultural arts using the hotel guest tax for the city of Wichita, which is not always properly used. Developers have been allowed to tap into this fund for their own private hotels, and the debt is still being incurred by taxpayers. Cooperation between the largest city within Sedgwick County, Wichita, and the county should not come at the expense of the other 19 cities within the area.
Wise: Yes, I support functional consolidation. As I stated above, I am not committing to a particular plan at this time, but to answer this question directly, here are two ideas of possible consolidation.
1. Environmental services
2. Animal control
What are the most important differences between you and your opponent?
Racette: My opponent will not give up her current job as a leasing agent for a large commercial entity. I believe the county commission job is a full-time position and taxpayers deserve nothing less. I have a degree in accounting, with an MBA and CIA certification. I have 25 years of experience in the financial industry, including with the FDIC as a bank examiner. My knowledge of revenue, earnings, investments, commercial real estate, supervisory management and teamwork application across specialties is unparalleled.
Wise: While I respect my opponent’s desire to serve, I see several key differences between our visions of leadership.
First, I have spent my adult life building a small business, which has required me to be out in Sedgwick County, cultivating relationships and serving the needs of my clients. In that time, it has allowed me to gain a comprehensive view on the opportunities and obstacles facing individuals and small businesses throughout the county. That knowledge and experience lends itself to the role of commissioner as I will have to consider multiple points of view as I take votes that will directly impact the lives of my constituents.
My opponent, by contrast, was a career auditor. There is nothing wrong with that, of course, but it doesn’t exactly translate into the kind of leadership that the county needs going forward. Additionally, I would say that my experience as a small-business owner has given me a sense of grit and determination to get the most important things done in a time and manner that is beneficial to those who most need it. As far as I know, my opponent has always collected a paycheck and never generated one for someone else.
Secondly, as it has been made clear to me in our two forums, my opponent still seems to be confused about the roles of Sedgwick County government and the city of Wichita. In the forum we both participated in hosted by Wichita Journalism Collaborative, my opponent continued to get off course when she began talking about issues that were a direct function of the city of Wichita, not a function of Sedgwick County… By contrast, I am singularly focused on the issues facing Sedgwick County as a whole and District 3 in particular. I am running to be an advocate for taxpayers.
