Republican Sen. Brenda Dietrich speaks with a constituent at a candidate meet-and-greet event Oct. 15, 2024, in Topeka. (Anna Kaminski/Kansas Reflector)
TOPEKA — The way the League of Women Voters of Topeka-Shawnee County usually conducts their candidate forums wasn’t working.
Candidates wouldn’t show up, and voters weren’t engaged, said Mary Lou Davis, league president.
Ahead of the Nov. 5 election, the league wanted to do something different with Topeka-area legislative candidates. The league hosted an unmoderated meet-and-greet session Tuesday evening at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, where constituents mingled with legislative hopefuls discussing public education, the cost of living, medical marijuana and property tax reform.
Twenty-five candidates in and around the Shawnee County area are bidding for eight house seats and four senate seats in November. Of the 12 open positions, all but five Republicans and two Democrats showed up to the meet-and-greet Tuesday.
All 40 state senate seats in Kansas are up for grabs, and all are in their first election with redrawn districts. Redistricting, which was finalized in 2022 and based on 2020 Census data, means that Shawnee County residents are now in one of four senate districts instead of three.
Senate District 3 previously covered the area between Lawrence and the Kansas City metropolitan area in Leavenworth and Douglas counties. Now the district covers portions of Osage, Douglas, Franklin and Shawnee counties, including parts of Lawrence and Topeka. At this point in the election cycle, especially with redistricting, voter education is important, Davis said.
“That’s one of our voter education focuses we’ve had is to let people know, ‘Hey, you really need to look at your district,’ ” she said.
Rick Kloos, a current state senator for District 19, is the Republican candidate for the redrawn Senate District 3, a seat currently held by Democrat Tom Holland, who is retiring. Democrat Dena Sattler is Kloos’ challenger.
Kloos was a no-show at Tuesday’s event. Sattler wrote Wednesday on the social media site X that his absence was “part of a sad pattern of ignoring constituent input.”
Kloos did not return Kansas Reflector’s request for comment.
Sen. Brenda Dietrich and current house member Kenny Titus were the only Republican state senate candidates who attended Tuesday’s event. Titus is running for Senate District 18. Dietrich is in her fourth election cycle and the incumbent for Senate District 20. She faces Democrat Candace Ayers, who ran in the August primary unopposed.
Dietrich said she’s covered much of her district on foot, and she has heard words of thanks for recent property tax reductions and elimination of Social Security income taxes that were parts of a 2024 package. Dietrich believes in pushing for further property tax reforms in 2025. She has heard interest from constituents, mostly veterans, about legalizing medical marijuana, an effort that died in the Senate in 2024 but was promised a return in 2025.
Jade Pearson Ramsdell, a Democrat, is challenging longtime House District 54 Rep. Ken Corbet, who didn’t appear Tuesday. Corbet, a Republican, has served in the House since 2013. The district covers a large rural area south of Topeka. Pearson Ramsdell said constituents throughout her campaign have emphasized the importance of public education this election season.
“I think one of the concerns for everyone is, particularly, the fact that the school funding formula is going to be revisited,” she said. “They’re hearing a lot about private vouchers, and that is scaring people within the community.”
Pearson Ramsdell said she’s also heard a lot about health access. Potential constituents in the mostly rural district have told her of concerns about hospital closures and having to travel long distances for care, she said.
“But we know Medicaid expansion alone is not going to be the solution to our health care access needs,” she said.
As Democratic legislative candidates across the state attempt to break Republican supermajorities in both chambers and flip red seats, the election results could determine the success of initiatives such as school voucher legislation, championed by Republicans, and Medicaid expansion, championed by Democrats including Gov. Laura Kelly.
Republican Rep. Jesse Borjon, who represents House District 52, covering the area west of Topeka, said he’s generally supportive of Medicaid expansion and will also support it if reelected. Kansas hospitals are struggling to stay afloat, he said, and expanding health care access can benefit the state’s workforce.
“I’m one of the few Republicans who has tried to advocate for Medicaid expansion in Kansas,” he said. “I went to the Speaker last session, and I asked him to let us have a hearing and let us have a vote, and thankfully we were able to get a hearing.”
Borjon, like other Republicans, is interested in additional property tax reforms. He is “a strong ‘no’ on school choice,” and will continue to be that way, he said.
“Some of these rural places, they may have a hospital, they have their school district. So if we start dismantling their public schools, the thing that makes them a community, they have nothing,” he said.
Correction: Republican Senate candidates Brenda Dietrich and Kenny Titus attended the meet-and-greet. A previous version of this story misstated the number of Republican Senate candidates in attendance.
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