A Democratic attorney who nearly upset Republican state Sen. Steve Fitzgerald in 2016 has filed to run for a House seat that will come open with Tom Burroughs’ retirement.
Bill Hutton, who lost to Fitzgerald by 508 votes, is seeking the House District 33 seat that Burroughs had represented since 1997.
Hutton won the Democratic primary that year, defeating Donald Terrien with 74% of the vote.
Hutton was an attorney in Kansas City for 36 years and has served as a part-time judge in Bonner Springs since 2003.
He also was a municipal judge in Kansas City for three years.
Burroughs is now finishing his 13th term in the Kansas House and was the chamber’s top Democrat from 2015 to 2016. He announced his retirement Monday.
Bonner Springs City Councilman Mike Thompson filed last year to run for the western Wyandotte County seat.
Thompson — not the state senator from Shawnee — is a former Navy SEAL and active-duty Army chaplain serving with Delta Force in Iraq.
The House district became a little redder after the election boundaries were drawn this year.
It was a 38.9% Democratic district in 2012. It became a 35.7% Democratic district after the lines were redrawn based on 2020 data.
It was a 28.75% Republican district before redistricting. It is now a 30.9% Republican district.
