Candidates vying for two Kansas Senate seats in the Olathe area and southern Johnson County shared their views on a variety of issues, including tax policy, education funding, abortion and more, during a forum hosted by the Johnson County Post.
The Post has hosted more than a dozen separate forums for Kansas Statehouse districts in Johnson County ahead of the Nov. 5 general election.
Wednesday’s forum was hosted Gardner Library in downtown Gardner.
The two districts covered in this forum were:
- Senate District 23, covering a portions of Gardner, Olathe and Spring Hill,
- and Senate District 37, covering portions of Gardner, Olathe and Edgerton, as well as parts of Miami County.
Who is running?
Senate District 23
- Democrat Stacey Knoell, executive director of the Kansas African American Affairs Commission
- Republican Adam Thomas, who has served three terms as a state representative (did not participate)
Senate District 37
- Democrat Sherry Giebler, a retired school counselor
- Republican Doug Shane, an animal science researcher and chair of the Miami County Republican Party
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
- Opening statements [2:15]
- 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? [6:51]
Democrat Sherry Giebler is running for Kansas Senate District 37 in the November election. Photo credit Leah Wankum. - Taxes and education (from the audience): Property taxes have an important role in funding public education and local governments. What kind of property tax relief or reforms would you look to pass without negatively impacting schools and county/city operations? [11:30]
- Paying the “fair share” of taxes (from the audience): What will you do to ensure everyone pays their fair share of taxes and not favoring corporations and high earners? [15:05]
- K-12 education funding: Gov. Laura Kelly has boasted of six consecutive years of K-12 education in Kansas being “fully funded.” A funding bill passed this year also boosts funding for special education. The funding situation appears to be remedied enough that the Kansas Supreme Court is no longer overseeing the funding process. The current funding formula lasts through 2027. Going into 2025, what do you see as the biggest priorities or remaining challenges for K-12 school funding and how would you want to address that if elected? [18:58]
Republican Doug Shane is running for Kansas Senate District 37 in the November election. Photo credit Leah Wankum. - Education follow up: Do you see the K-12 funding issue as essentially “solved?” [22:58]
- Guns and school safety (from the audience): What will you do to keep my 11-year-old safe at school? [26:51]
- Medicaid expansion (from the audience): How will Medicaid expansion reduce costs and create access for more Kansans when many on Medicaid already cannot receive the care they need and few doctors are accepting Medicaid patients? We hear from Democrats all the time who frame Medicaid expansion as a positive, common-sense solution to many of the health care ills facing Kansas, but Republicans have opposed it. What’s your stance? [31:11]
Democrat Stacey Knoell is running for Kansas Senate District 23 in the November election. Photo credit Leah Wankum. - Abortion: Two years ago, Kansas voters rejected a proposed amendment that would have explicitly stripped the right to abortion from the state constitution. It was seen as a major victory for abortion rights supporters. But debate about abortion has not stopped. In the two years since, Kansas lawmakers have debated dozens of bills seeking in some way to limit or impact abortion procedures in Kansas, and it’s widely expected that such measures will continue to come up next year. Do you support any new restrictions on abortion or laws in any way governing the procedure? Why or why not? [37:03]
- “Polarization” (from the audience): Is there anything to be done about “polarization” or the “hostility” we see in our communities nowadays? [45:35]
- Economic development (from the audience): How will you encourage more new business formations in Kansas? [49:24]
- Endorsements (from the audience): Who or what groups have endorsed your campaign? [53:15]
