Michael Padilla (born 1948/1949) is an American politician who is the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ; Kansa language, Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the Capital (political), capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the County seat, seat of Shawnee County, Kansas, Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the ...

, serving since January 2022. Prior to becoming mayor, Padilla was a member of the Topeka Police Department for 33 years and served one term on Topeka's

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

Career

Padilla is a second-generation

Mexican American Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...

. He graduated from Hayden High School and

Washburn University Washburn University (WU) is a public university in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and business. Washburn has 550 faculty members, who teach more than 6,100 u ...

. He worked for Adams Business Forms but left the job in 1970 to become a

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

for Topeka's police department. In 2000, Padilla, then a police captain, ran for

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

Shawnee County Shawnee County (county code SN) is located in northeast Kansas, in the central United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 178,909, making it the third-most populous county in Kansas. Its most populous city, Topeka, is the state ...

as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

. He won the Democratic Party's

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

in August, but lost the November general election to the incumbent, Republican Richard Barta. Padilla retired from the Topeka Police Department in 2003 at the rank of

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

. Padilla was elected to Topeka's

to represent District 5 in 2017. In January 2021, the members of the Topeka City Council elected Padilla as

deputy mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor, assistant mayor, or mayor ''pro tem'') is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many, but not all, local governments. Duties and functions Many elected dep ...

. After

Michelle De La Isla Michelle De La Isla (born March 19, 1976) is an American politician who served as the mayor of Topeka, Kansas from 2018 to 2022. She previously served on the Topeka City Council from 2013 to 2018. De La Isla was the city's first Latina and single ...

decided not to run for reelection in 2021, Padilla announced his candidacy for mayor. Padilla defeated Leo Cangiani in the non-partisan election with 60.9% of the vote (9,209 to 5,862) on November 2. He was sworn in as mayor on January 4, 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Padilla, Mike American police officers American politicians of Mexican descent Hispanic and Latino American city council members Hispanic and Latino American mayors Kansas city council members Kansas Democrats Living people Mayors of Topeka, Kansas Washburn University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)