Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser has become the first incumbent since the 1920s to lose a primary election.
The loss Tuesday for the first-term mayor puts an end to a four-year tenure marked by lawsuits, controversial appointments and accusations of nepotism.
The 61-year-old former city auditor conceded the seven-way, nonpartisan primary about two hours after polls closed.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, unofficial returns showed Funkhouser third with 21 percent of the vote to 27 percent for Sly James and 26 percent for Mike Burke, both attorneys.
James and Burke will compete in the general election on March 22.
Funkhouser's image problems began soon after he took office, when he appointed a member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, an anti-illegal immigration group, to the city's parks board.