WATCH: The Post’s candidate forum for Kansas House Districts 8 & 48

Four candidates vying for two seats in the Kansas House in districts covering portions of Olathe and southern Overland Park laid out their contrasting views and priorities in a live forum hosted by the Johnson County Post Wednesday night.

The Post is hosting more than a dozen separate forums for Kansas Statehouse districts in Johnson County ahead of the Nov. 5 general election.

The two districts covered in this forum were:

• House District 8, covering portions of Olathe and Overland Park, generally running from 129th to 167th streets, between Pflumm and Switzer,
• House District 48, covering a portion of Overland Park, generally running from 119th to 159th, between Switzer and Antioch.

Who is running?

House District 8

• Incumbent Republican Rep. Chris Croft, who is the current House Majority Leader
• Retired educator Pam Shernuk, a Democrat

House District 48

• Incumbent Democratic Rep. Dan Osman
• Retired health care consultant Randy Ross, a Republican

How to watch the Post’s forum

The Post livestreamed Wednesday’s event on our Facebook page, and a recording of the forum is embedded below.

Following the embedded video are the questions each candidate answered during the forum.

Timestamps are included in bold at the end of each question to help you navigate through the forum video if you’d like to jump around.

Questions and timestamps

1.  Opening statements [1:33]
2. Biggest priority for your district: We are holding forums for dozens of statehouse districts this fall. What do you see as the biggest priority or need from residents in your district? [6:56]

   

3. Taxes: Had a number of readers ask questions about taxes, some saying the tax cut package passed this summer should have gone further. Plenty of others also noting the strain that property taxes are putting on them. If elected, what will be your tax priorities going into the 2025 session? [14:08]
4. Education: What do you see as the biggest priorities or challenges facing Kansas public schools and how would you go about trying to address that if elected or re-elected? [19:50]

   

5. Abortion: This is a hot-button issue and we have readers on both sides. Some who say legislators need to respect the reproductive rights and bodily autonomy of women to make their own private health care decisions. Others who say the state does have a compelling interests in trying to protect unborn life and the rights of the fetus. Where, personally, do you fall on this issue and, based on that, what public policy choices and measures would you support in Topeka? [26:37]
6. Guns: Are there any rules, laws or limits you would support when it comes to guns, gun safety, gun possession, in Kansas? [33:17]

   

7. KPERS (from the audience): The Kansas Public Employee Retirement System has not received a cost-of-living adjustment in nearly 30 years. What, if anything, would you do to address this? [40:55]
8. Attracting workers (from the audience): How can we build a skilled workforce and attract more and younger workers to Kansas? [46:27]

   

9. Closing statements [51:18]