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Mike Warner
A former federal prosecutor announced Tuesday that he is running for Douglas County district attorney as a Republican, criticizing a series of “significant problems” in the local attorney's office.
Mike Warner, of Lawrence, is the first Republican candidate to run in the race. Two Democrats have run so far to challenge incumbent Democrat Suzanne Valdez: Wyandotte County Attorney Tonda Hill and Dakota Loomis, who has served as both a prosecutor and defense attorney.
According to materials on his campaign website, Warner has worked in private practice in criminal law for the past decade, but prior to that he served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Western District of Missouri from 1999 to 2010 and then in the District of Kansas from 2010 to 2014. He worked as a criminal defense lawyer in the mid-1980s and then as a prosecutor in Harvey, Wyandotte and finally Johnson counties in the late '80s and '90s.
Warner, a graduate of Washburn University School of Law, also has experience as a judge, having served as a judge in Topeka Municipal Court in 2017 and as a temporary traffic court judge in Shawnee County from 2019-2020.
Warner said in a news release that if elected Douglas County district attorney, he would aim to “improve the department and restore accountable prosecutorial practices.”
Warner's statement was partly targeted at Valdez, who took office in 2021. Warner said in a statement that during Valdez's tenure, the district attorney's office has been plagued by “high staff turnover, poor relationships with law enforcement, the courts and victims, and widely publicized disciplinary claims involving incumbents.”
“Unnecessary drama, substandard trial outcomes and questionable plea bargains have been significant problems within the Office of the District Attorney,” he said in a statement. “These continuing problems stem from the lack of prosecutorial experience of local prosecutors. If elected, I will use my prosecutorial background to restore integrity and professionalism to the Office of the District Attorney.”
Warner said he plans to serve only one term if elected, and that he was running as a Republican because he didn't want the election to be decided solely by the Democratic primary in August.
In the 2020 election, Valdez defeated longtime Douglas County District Attorney Charles Brunson in the August primary and did not face a Republican challenger in November's general election.
“We trust that in November voters will be well-informed and will compare the relative strengths and experience of the candidates, regardless of party affiliation,” Warner said in a statement.
This year's deadline for candidates to file their candidacy is June 3rd, and the general election will take place on November 5th.
