PAC-Endorsed Candidates Win Local Primary Elections

According to WIBW, based on unofficial election results, 7,440 voters participated in the Topeka mayoral primary held on August 5, 2025. This represents a voter turnout of 9.74% out of 76,379 registered voters. The Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce’s Political Action Committee (PAC) endorsed sitting Topeka City Councilman Spencer Duncan for mayor. The PAC also endorsed three of the six candidates running for Topeka City Council District one, namely, Karen Hiller(incumbent), Brendan Jenson, and Will Naeger. Three other candidates were competing for the District one seat, Jolie Lippitt, Tyler Jaggers and Eli Bohannan. The top two District one candidates were Karen Hiller and Will Naeger, who will vie for the seat in November. What is a Political Action Committee or PAC? Turns out, they are not all the same. According to the Federal Election Committee of the United States, PACs include separate segregated funds (SSFs), nonconnected committees and Super PACs. "SSFs are political committees established and administered by corporations, labor unions, membership organizations or trade associations. These committees can solicit contributions only from individuals associated with a connected or sponsoring organization. "By contrast, nonconnected committees — as their name suggests — are not sponsored by or connected to any of the aforementioned entities and are free to solicit contributions from the general public." Additionally, there are Super PACS, Hybrid PACS and leadership PACS. Super PACS (independent expenditure only political committees) may receive "unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, labor unions and other PACs for the purpose of financing independent expenditures and other independent political activities." Hybrid PACs (political committees with non-contribution accounts) solicit and accept unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, labor organizations and other political committees. A Leadership PAC is a political committee that is directly or indirectly established, financed, maintained or controlled by a candidate or an individual holding federal office. The descriptions of both Hybrid and Leadership PACS may or may not also apply to local and state elections. More research is needed to determine this. What's important to note here is that these PACS are organized by specific organizations which have specific goals and objectives. What's interesting with respect to the Topeka mayoral primary is that the campaigns of the candidates the Topeka Chamber of Commerce endorses may also be funded by the Topeka Chamber of Commerce. The question that occurs to me is what input the voters have on these PACS and consequently on local elections? Just a little something for citizens to ponder. These local elections are supposed to be "non-partisan," but, in reality, perhaps they are not non-partisan at all.