ELLY GRIMM

    • Leader & Times

The 2026 elections in Liberal saw stunning numbers at all levels, and even local governing entities will see some changes.

Lizette Avalos-Morales, Fred Bloom and Kay Burtzloff won their respective districts for the Seward County Commission. Results and numbers were available Tuesday evening, and Avalos-Morales and Burtzloff were able to share in the news together.

“I was at a watch party and we were listening to the Leader & Times recap of everything. At some point during the evening, I got a text, but it wasn’t entirely clear, and it was the same with another text I got a short time after that,” Avalos-Morales said. “We turned up the speaker for the TV and we were hearing the results come in from the other races that weren’t local, and I was thinking we needed to rewind and find out the results from the local races. Finally, my best friend called me from Colorado and told me I had won. Kay [Burtzloff] was in the room with me, and we hugged after it was confirmed we’d both won. It was great hearing that kind of news from my best friend because she’s been supportive of me for basically my whole life.”

“I was at the watch party at Southwest Ranch Event Center that had been arranged, and I was there with Lizette, so we got to hear the results at the same time, which was great,” Burtzloff added.

Both admitted they were stunned with the results.

“It took me a little while to process everything. My friend had called me and I’d asked ‘Are you sure?’ because everyone in the room was staring at me while I was on the phone and looking anxious. Even after she’d called me though,” Avalos-Morales said, “I was still kind of skeptical and I didn’t fully let myself believe I’d won until I got the text that confirmed everything. After that, everyone started hugging and celebrating, and I rewound the show until I found the part where it announced I had officially won. It was definitely quite a night.”

“I was a little stunned not only about me winning, but also how we essentially turned Seward County blue this time around, which I’ve wanted to see happen for a long, long time,” Burtzloff added. “I’m very glad Lizette and I ended up being elected, and I wish Jose Lara could have helped us complete that sweep, but that ultimately ended up not happening. I think this election really showed our Latino population just how much political power they really have.”

Avalos-Morales and Burtzloff said the idea of running for office had actually been percolating for a bit.

“I never saw myself running for office, it was not something I’d really planned on doing. I work in education, I’m passionate about education, that’s where my heart’s at,” Avalos-Morales said. “During this past year, with everything that’s been going on, I really pride myself on using real-life examples during my lectures. This semester, I was able to use several examples of what’s been going on at the county level in my lessons – as educators, it’s important to teach and use real-life examples and talk about current events. I was doing that in my classes and getting my students’ viewpoints about what was going on, and we had some fantastic discussions. I wasn’t ever really planning on running for office, but my friend Kathleen Alonso, who’s really active in the community, was talking to me one day and said ‘We need someone from the district, do you know anyone who would want to run?’ As we were studying the map, I realized I was part of the district she was talking about, and Kathleen and some of my students eventually convinced me to run. I also realized if I was going to be talking about how things should work, I should be part of that work going on, and it was important for me to have the courage to put myself out there. I talked to my husband about it since this decision would also affect him, and he was very supportive – in fact, he’s actually suggested I run for office before, so it was great knowing I would have that support.”

“I’d actually been tossing the idea around for a little while. I knew Presephoni Fuller wouldn’t be seeking reelection, so I knew that would be an open seat. There were also the conversations about how there hadn’t been any Democratic challengers for a long time for the county commission,” Burtzloff said. “Uncontested races don’t help get voters out because that makes a lot of people think ‘Why bother?’ I had approached a few other people about running, and the most common response I got to that was ‘Why don’t YOU run?’ The main trigger, however, was the county’s vote on the employee health insurance – they were so proud of themselves for saving some money, but they’d passed along a lot of the costs onto the employees. I had a number of county employees come and talk to me about how much of a financial burden the new plan would be when everything was changed, and I had some personal experience with it since my husband, Danny, is a county employee himself. Even though I’m on Medicare, we use his insurance for some things, and I watched increases happen with my prescriptions and co-pays and everything else, and that just wasn’t right to me, and there weren’t any pay raises or any of that. Someone on the commission needs to understand how those types of decisions impact the employees.”

And even though they will not be sworn in until January, both agreed they will already start getting to work.

“One of the things I’ll definitely be prioritizing will be looking at wind farming and what’s going on with that and reviewing the proposal, because I feel like that’s something that could be voted on fairly soon, maybe before I’m even sworn in. I’ll definitely be prioritizing looking into all of that since it’s such a big concern with a lot of people,” Avalos-Morales said. “I’m very excited about everything. I love learning, which is why I went into education, so I’m looking forward to learning about how the county functions and what the role of the commission is. I know it’s going to be tough, and I know there’s going to be a lot of learning involved, but there’s a lot going on throughout the county right now – there are lawsuits that have been filed and people not getting along, and there are a lot of people in the community feeling like they’re not being heard. There’s been a lot of turmoil lately, so I’m looking forward to helping close that gap and connecting with people in the community and everyone who works at the county level like the directors and other employees. I’m not going to become and expert in everything overnight, but I’m looking forward to taking on this new role.”

“First and foremost, I want to do a deep dive and make sure I understand the county’s finances. I’ve gotten some materials, but I want to be absolutely sure I understand the county’s finances in terms of where everything’s going and the overall shape of everything. I want to look at the budget because to me, that’s the road map of proceeding to the future – if you don’t know how you’re economically based, if you don’t know what’s happening on that level, it’s hard to make other decisions,” Burtzloff said. “I’ve got a lot of homework between now and when I get sworn in in January, and that’s something I definitely want to get my head around. I’m excited because I would like to see the county commission operate at the team level we’ve seen with the city commission. The city commission has functioned really, really well as a team, and I’d like to see the county commission function as a team as well and work together cohesively, and work cohesively with the city and the Seward County Development Corporation. And as I mentioned during my campaign, I would also like to see the county develop a Strategic Plan and work on a road map for the future, which has been lacking for a while. I would like to see us have more town hall meetings and get input from the public, especially when there are bigger decisions that have to be made. I’m considering renting some office space so people can get in touch with me and come and talk to me in person as opposed to the several unofficial meetings I’ve done in the aisles of Dillons or Walmart throughout the years. I’m still figuring some things out, there’s a lot of homework to be done between now and when I get sworn in.”

Overall, Avalos-Morales said, she is excited for her upcoming new role.

“When I was campaigning, I talked to a lot of people who had never voted before, or were even registered, so a big goal of mine was simply getting people out and voting. I was definitely not expecting the numbers to end up how they did, and I was completely shocked,” Avalos-Morales said. “I want to reiterate to people how their vote DOES matter – a lot of people think it doesn’t, but if they take a look at the results from the other races, I think they’ll find their vote does matter in the grand scheme of everything. I’m really proud of the turnout, and I’m looking forward to working with all the other commissioners.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Fred Bloom prefers to wait to make his comments until after canvassing and the completion of the process.