Democrat Patrick Schmidt and Republican Tyler Wible are facing off for Senate District 19, a newly redrawn district that stretches from Topeka to Lawrence.
Both Schmidt and Wible won contested primaries for the nomination.
The Capital-Journal posed the same questions to each candidate. Answers were not edited for spelling, grammar or content.
What background information would you like voters to know about you and why you are running for office?
Patrick Schmidt: I'm a sixth generation Kansan from a family of public school teachers and farmers. I'm a Lieutenant in the U.S. Naval reserves and my wife and I live in the Central Park Neighborhood. I'm running for the State Senate because I watched growing up that political leaders seemed more concerned with conducting economic experiments on Kansans than improving the economy and lives of working Kansans. I will work tirelessly to ensure that hard-working Kansans are not ignored and we work to improve our great state.
Tyler Wible: I've been here my whole life, I'm active in the community, and I'm the candidate that actually cares. My sole reason for running is to protect and give accurate representation for my friends, family, and neighbors. My district is full of people I've been lucky enough to be around my whole life. I love and care for my people.
Property taxes are largely a local issue, but what should the Legislature do about rising property taxes?
Schmidt: In the Brownback years, his economic experiment bankrupted the state and in the process, all state aid to local governments and counties was eliminated. In the process of crashing the state's economy, Gov. Brownback also shifted the tax burden to hard-working Kansans through increased property taxes. Now that we've recovered from his failed experiment, it's time to replace those funds to help local and state governments reduce property taxes.
Wible: We need to create regulations and actual use state legislation to hold local municipalities to limitations that fit the needs of their population and reduce redundancies in spending in both projects and personel.
Do you support taxpayer dollars going to vouchers or other forms of school choice for students attending private schools?
Schmidt: No!
Wible: I believe Kansans need to be in charge of Kansas. We need to cut federal regulations on our schools and bring our kids to a higher educational standards. Kids are our future and we need to treat them as such. I will support legislation that protects and betters our kids in their scholastic journeys.
What do you think is the appropriate role of the Legislature on abortion policy following the Value Them Both vote?
Schmidt: I subscribe to the novel ideal that we should respect the will of the voters and stop trying to ban abortion in Kansas. As your senator, I will never support eroding women's rights in Kansas.
Wible: The Republican party has a lot of trust to earn back on this subject. I believe abortion is necessary under protection of the mother, rape cases, and incest cases. All Republicans that I know in the legislature personally believe this. You will not see legislation that will take away abortion for those three reasons.
Do you support Medicaid expansion? Why or why not?
Schmidt: Yes. It's time to help hard-working Kansans who are falling through the cracks of our current health care system get affordable healthcare. It will help our economy with a healthier workforce and our families who shouldn't have to worry about bankruptcy because someone in their family got sick.
Wible: No, Medicaid is a failing system. I believe in Medicaid Reconstruction not expansion. I believe that the $800M we send to the Federal government would be better spent in Kansas. But they are saying they are only going to be able to ensure and help 150k Kansans. That's the most expensive insurance known to man. It's too hard for Kansans to afford to live, we need to get government out of Healthcare and ensure an actual free market system where insurance companies have to bring costs down to win your business. Make insurance actually affordable again and stop lining these company pockets.
What is the appropriate role of the Legislature in promoting economic development? And does the approach differ for large and small businesses?
Schmidt: The legislature should help facilitate economic growth, but one of the largest impediments to greater economic growth is affordable child care for Kansas families. Parents shouldn't pay as much for child care as they do for rent or a mortgage payment. We should and must greatly expand the Child Care Tax Credit and the Child Tax credit. We should be doing all we can to help Kansans contribute to the economy and raise their families.
Wible: Currently I am a Property Developer and Class A General Contractor. I deal a lot with bringing economic growth and an improved quality of life to areas by utilizing and following Federal and State incentives and regulations to bring quality businesses and dwellings to areas that need them most. With this I see how the focus of government has been on the "biggest bang for your buck" which is always the project brought forward the "creates the most jobs". I believe we need incentives to bring businesses of all sizes to better our communities and make Kansans a place that people want to move to. Bring forward and even playing field for everyone and fill Kansas with opportunities for all.
What should the state government do about homelessness?
Schmidt: To combat homelessness we need more resources dedicated to mental health care and drug addiction. State government can play a pivotal role in developing partnerships with stakeholders to provide the resources needed to combat homelessness.
Wible: We use to be the mental health capital of the nation. We need to make this our priority again and get people the help they need for mentsl health and addiction to get them back on their feet. Throwing money at them doesn't fix the issue. They need real help. The other part is we need to make it affordable to live again and fix our economy, lower taxes, and fix our housing market. Then we can have a thriving society that actually fixed the issue.
Politics often requires compromise and debating ideas. What is an issue you've changed your mind on after listening to the other side?
Schmidt: I've come to understand that using the tax code to help working Kansans with issues like child care and retirement saving is more efficient and effective than direct government programs.
Wible: I keep open ears and focus my understanding on the needs and wants of the people. I then follow the facts, statistics, and financial factors of it all. My views are based off of this, not off of a "side" or "scripted limerick"
What other issue(s) are top priorities for you?
Schmidt: Working for solutions of gun violence that plagues our communities.
Wible: Community involvement, protection and involvement of our youth, nature conservation, educating and informing our public, restoration of rights back to the people, and putting Kansans in charge of Kansas again.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Patrick Schmidt, Tyler Wible for Kansas Senate District 19 | Topeka Voters Guide
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