Incumbent will face former Goddard mayor, political newcomer in Wichita City Council race

With Bryan Frye running for mayor and Jeff Blubaugh setting his sights on the Sedgwick County Commission, only one incumbent Wichita City Council member has a seat to defend in this year’s local elections.

Becky Tuttle officially filed to run for re-election in east Wichita’s District 2 on Wednesday. She will face two opponents — former Goddard Mayor Marcey Gregory and political newcomer Hatim Zeineddine.

Gregory, a Democrat, served as mayor of the Wichita suburb from 2007-2017 and has run unsuccessfully for the Sedgwick County Commission twice and the state house once, losing to Patrick Penn in 2020.

Zeineddine, 28, a recent Wichita State graduate, told The Eagle he decided to run last summer when Wichita was placed under its second boil water advisory in eight months.

“I was just thinking to myself, you know, I bet there are a lot of disillusioned, dissatisfied people who just don’t even remember that they can go out to vote for City Council,” said Zeineddine, who is registered to vote but is not affiliated with a political party.

Track record

Tuttle, a Republican, was appointed to the City Council in 2019 and defeated a challenger in that year’s election. She said she does not plan to make an endorsement in this year’s hotly contested mayoral race.

“I’m going to sit it out. I feel that that’s the appropriate thing for me to do,” Tuttle said. “Whoever is elected mayor will be somebody that I will work with if I am blessed to be re-elected.”

Gregory, who moved to east Wichita in 2017 and previously owned a retail sportswear store and a property management company with her husband, said friends from Goddard asked her earlier this year if she would come back and run for mayor again amid ongoing turmoil at City Hall.

“I said ‘I really love living where I do now so no,’ but thinking about that got me kind of remembering how much I enjoy being involved in civic duties. I’ve missed it,” Gregory said. She filed to run for the District 2 seat Thursday before the noon deadline.

She said one of her top priorities would be luring new businesses to Wichita that encourage workers to stay in the city.

“If we continue to pursue getting employers in town that would provide high-paying and good security jobs, I think our local talent will be more inclined to stay rather than move to a coast,” Gregory said.

Tuttle, who worked as community development director for the Greater Wichita YMCA before joining the City Council, said she’s particularly proud of the leadership role she played in developing the Wichita-Sedgwick County Food System Master Plan, which aims to address disparities in access to fresh food.

“I think the pandemic truly highlighted food issues that most people didn’t understand,” Tuttle said. “When they went to grocery stores and they saw empty shelves and for the first time, it impacted them, but for many people, it’s not the empty shelf. It’s the fact that they can’t even get to a grocery store or they can’t afford what’s in the grocery store.”

As another example of her leadership on the council, Tuttle pointed to a six-month relationship she developed with Scheels that led to the sporting goods store agreeing to pay for $625,000 in upgrades at the Stryker Sports Complex in exchange for naming rights.

City Council priorities

Zeineddine (pronounced zay-nuh-DEEN) grew up in Wichita and graduated from WSU in 2022 with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering. He works in sales at the Vitamin Shoppe, and said city leaders’ priorities are out of step with what everyday Wichitans want from their government.

“The status quo is leaving people behind,” Zeineddine said. “The status quo led us to two water boil orders, and so I think people aren’t particularly happy with the status quo right now.”

Construction on the city’s new drinking water plant is expected to be completed in 2024.

Gregory said if she’s elected to the City Council, constituents can count on her to pick up the phone when they call.

“I truly believe our elected officials are our customer service representatives for whatever services are provided by the city, whether it’s water and sewer or police or whatever,” Gregory said. “I want people to know that they can call me, and if they have a question or concern, I will get an answer for them.”

With a projected city budget deficit of $18 million looming in 2025, Tuttle, 53, said she expects that the incoming City Council will have to make a series of difficult judgment calls on funding.

“We know that police and fire and public safety and public works will absolutely have to be preserved, but after that, we’re going to have to make some hard decisions,” Tuttle said.

“When people have asked, ‘What do you think could be some potential cuts?’ I say, ‘I’m not ready to make that commitment yet because I want to hear what my residents think are essential.”

Gregory, 61, said her experience managing a city budget and running small businesses makes her the most qualified candidate.

“Goddard, that was a relatively small town. We had a budget of $8 million so we had to have our staff wear a lot of different hats,” Gregory said. “I was very good at trying to figure out how to make that happen.”

Wichita transportation

Zeineddine said Wichita needs to do more to promote public transportation, including adding additional city bus routes.

“If you look at the bus map and see what parts of the city they cover, it’s not really comprehensive public transport,” he said.

“People who don’t have a car or reliable transportation just can’t really get around the city easily. I challenge any of the City Council members to try to get to work without using their car.”

Tuttle, who serves on the Wichita Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s executive committee, said she’s proud of major investments that are being made in the city’s highway infrastructure.

“If you think about North Junction, K-96 expansion and east Kellogg expansion, that’s a billion dollars worth of infrastructure,” Tuttle said. “Any city in the nation would be thrilled to have one and we have all three.”

District 2 is one of three City Council races that will be on the ballot this year, along with District 4 and District 5. The mayor’s seat and three school board races will also be decided by voters.

Because there are only three candidates vying for the District 2 seat, it will not be included in the Aug. 1 primary. The race will be decided in the Nov. 7 general election.