Melesa Johnson, who promised to combat Kansas City’s high violence rate with aggressive prosecution and crime prevention, easily won the Jackson County Prosecutor’s race on Tuesday to become the first Black woman in the job.
Johnson, 35, who emphasized her roots in the city's urban core, will replace prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, who has held the job since 2011. Johnson, an early-career attorney in Baker’s office, is currently Mayor Quinton Lucas’ director of public safety.
She bested Tracey Chappell, a Black Republican defense attorney, who conceded in person at Johnson's watch party and introduced and hugged Johnson.
Johnson, wearing suffragist white, said she was humbled at the historical significance her win holds and she hoped that she could be "a beacon of hope" for others.
"Today we showed that a little Black girl from the east side of Kansas City can become one of the top-ranking law enforcement officials in the entire county — that means something," she said. "That's going to trickle over to people wanting to become police officers, prosecutors, sheriffs, probation officers, people where I come from. And that's a good thing for the system in its entirety."
The candidates focused on strategies to address crime in the last days, thanks to an increase in property crimes by armed teens breaking into businesses and cars in majority white and more affluent neighborhoods like Waldo and Brookside. Debate in the city centered on whether Kansas City Police are responding to calls and if Baker's office was charging enough of the cases.
Public outcry came to a head in August when armed teens fatally shot popular Irish chef Shaun Brady near his Brookside restaurant. Two boys, 17 and 15, have been charged with second degree murder in family court and may be charged as adults.
Johnson responded by saying she would balance prosecuting those crimes with continuing her work in the city’s anti-violence effort, SAVE KC, which focuses on street-level intelligence about people who are most likely to perpetrate crimes.
“I am the only candidate with a real plan to bring meaningful change to our community,” Johnson told reporters.
Chappell, a defense attorney, countered with a get-tough-on-crime message and pointed to her previous job as a Blue Springs prosecutor. She said social justice programming should come after the pursuit of criminal convictions.
A secondary argument in the race centered on Missouri's total ban on abortion, enacted in 2022 after the fall of Roe v. Wade. Baker, a supporter of reproductive rights, mostly ignored the law and didn't prosecute anyone for abortions. Johnson said she would follow suit, but Chappell said she would charge those involved in providing an abortion outside of emergency services, since it is against state law.
On Tuesday night, Johnson said the abortion issue played a role in both her primary and general election races.
"From the top of the ticket down, women's reproductive freedoms, women's reproductive rights has been a pivotal issue in this entire election cycle," she said.
Johnson beat two other Democrats in the August primary race, easily outdistancing Stephanie Burton, a Kansas City defense attorney, and John Gromowsky, an assistant Jackson County prosecutor. Gromowsky, who had support from all of the police unions in the metro area and outspent Johnson three to one, came in a distant third.
