Two Lawrence House districts will likely be decided in the Tuesday, Aug. 6 primary, and three of five Democrats in the running for them participated in a forum Saturday.
The forum included two of three candidates running for House District 46, Brittany Hall and Brooklynne Mosley, and one of two running for District 10, Suzanne Wikle.
No incumbents, nor any candidates from other parties, are running for either seat. The winners of the Aug. 6 Democratic primary will almost certainly be the next elected representatives.
Logan Ginavan and Zachary Hawkins — candidates running for House 46 and 10, respectively — were not in attendance Saturday.
Ursula Minor moderated the forum, hosted by the NAACP and League of Women Voters of Lawrence-Douglas County at the Watkins Museum of History. Candidates for Senate District 19 and District 2 also participated in forums.
You can check your voter info at myvoteinfo.voteks.org to make sure you know which House district you’re in. A lot of districts have changed significantly in recent years. See a map with markup of all the House districts that include Douglas County at this link.
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Where is Kansas House 46?
The seat held by Rep. Dennis “Boog” Highberger since 2015 is up for grabs following the legislator’s retirement.
House District 46 covers roughly the northeastern quadrant of Lawrence, including downtown, KU’s campus and parts of North Lawrence. It is not a perfect square, but its northernmost boundary is Interstate 70; its westernmost boundary is Iowa Street; its southern border dips to 19th Street and continues east on 15th Street; and its eastern boundary runs approximately along Lindenwood Lane and along North Ninth Street in North Lawrence. Click here to see a map.
Where is Kansas House 10?
The district currently represented by Christina Haswood, who is running for Kansas Senate District 2, is now contested.
Kansas House District 10 includes much of Lawrence between East 15th Street to the north and the Wakarusa River to the south. The bulk of the district spans from East 1600 Road to the east to Iowa Street to the west, but it also extends as far west as Kasold Drive in some places. Click here to see a map.
Brittany Hall (Democrat for House 46)
Hall said her lived experience is her “strong power.” She described her identity as “multicultural” as she is Native American and Mexican American, and she said she wants to strengthen voting rights because traditionally marginalized people have been forgotten about.
“We always have to remember those who have been forgotten about, no matter what,” Hall, Shawnee, said.
Hall, a single mother who said she knows what it’s like to work two jobs to make ends meet, said her son was affected by the Lawrence school board’s vote to close Pinckney Elementary after the spring of 2023. She said every child needs to be a priority.
“With our school systems, we’re losing our teachers, we are failing some of our students,” Hall said, especially in the aftermath of COVID-19.
She said she’s heard from many Lawrence folks who have health issues and need Medicaid expansion, and that she will fight for it.
Hall said she believes the state needs to subsidize and incentivize renewable energy, “but we also want to help take care of our lands while we do this.”
As president of the Haskell National Board of Regents, she is advocating in favor of Baker University to return wetlands to Haskell and in opposition of the New Boston Crossing development planned for southeast of the Kansas Highway 10 and Iowa Street interchange.
“We are stewards of this land. We are the original land takers and caregivers, and that’s something I always try to practice to help decolonize myself and teach that to my son,” she said.
If elected, Hall said on her first day in office she’d continue conversations she’s been having and try to determine where her skills will best fit in on committees.
“I have been talking to representatives that are already in the office to know what are the unforeseen changes that they think could happen? What do they want to see? What can we continue to work on?” she said.
Hall said in closing that she will always be transparent and listen to constituents, offering “an open heart and an open ear to anyone and everyone.”
Brooklynne Mosley (Democrat for House 46)
Mosley is a veteran who served 10 years in the U.S. Air Force. She’s also advocated for education, human rights and workers’ rights, she said.
“I’m here because I am the best suited to not only be good on policy, but be good with the political strategy that we would like to see for us to grow the caucus in the Statehouse,” Mosley said.
Mosley said she believes in public education and that “we should be investing in our kids no matter what.” She said the local school board has had to make hard decisions, such as whether to keep a school open or pay district teachers, because of school funding.
“This is a retention issue. We are causing it,” she said.
She said she’s going to fight to increase school funding, “to make sure that we are not bringing in harmful bills that will deduct school funding, to make sure that we’re not doing wonky math to fund public education that’s going to take away from other individuals.”
She said she and her family members have been fortunate to have good health insurance, but “It should not be a luck thing.” She said she would fight for all Kansans to have access to Medicaid.
“This is about the moral imperative, because we all have the ability to be sick,” she said.
Mosley said there are a lot of great programs that will help people make their homes more energy-efficient, “and a lot of times there’s this awareness issue, so I think that the state government also has an imperative to make sure that we’re informing people on policies.”
In closing, Mosley said she’s not just looking at the 2025 legislative session but also beyond that. For instance, in 2026, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly — who has vetoed many of the anti-civil rights laws that have made it to her desk from the Legislature — will not be able to run for another term, and historically it’s been difficult for a party to hold a governorship for three cycles.
“If we get another governor and we have a (Republican) supermajority going into 2027, really bad policies can get through the state Legislature,” she said.
Suzanne Wikle (Democrat for House 10)
Wikle said she spent six years working for Kansas Action for Children, leading children’s health policy bills and working with legislators on both sides of the aisle in the Statehouse. She holds a master’s degree in social work from KU. She said she’d be ready to hit the ground running if elected.
Wikle said she believes schools won’t be fully funded “until we truly make back all of the losses that we had during the (Gov. Sam) Brownback years.” She said with regard to special education funding, the Lawrence school district has had to use about $10 million of its general funds toward SPED, which should be covered by the state.
She said public education also includes early childhood education and higher education. She said she pays more for her daughter to go to child care each year than tuition costs at KU, and “this is a significant problem for families.”
Wikle said you won’t find a stronger supporter of Medicaid expansion than her.
Wikle said she’s eager to learn more about renewable energy, but she learned from an advocate that billions of dollars are “poised to come into Kansas for energy conservation and renewable energy” through federal programs. She said she believes the Legislature’s role should be to make sure state agencies are doing everything they can to make sure they’re bringing in those federal dollars and setting up programs that will be accessible for Kansans.
In closing, Wikle emphasized that she believes a lack of affordable child care is causing harm statewide as, for example, businesses may lose employees after that employee has a child because they can’t find or afford child care, and she said some rural hospitals can’t retain nurses for the same reason.
She also said she has expertise in implementation once policies are passed.
“I think sometimes we pass a law and we think, ‘OK, it’s done,’ but really, that’s when the really hard work begins,” she said.
She said she wants her kids, ages 4 and 7, to “grow up in a Kansas that was very much like the one I grew up in, with very strong public schools, a strong safety net and all of the things that families and children really need for all their success in life.”
The last day to register to vote in order to cast a ballot in the Tuesday, Aug. 6 primary election is Tuesday, July 16. Early voting begins July 17. See more details in this article.
Kansas voters can take care of their voter registration and request an advance ballot to vote by mail at ksvotes.org.
Look for more forum coverage and candidate questionnaires still to come at lawrencekstimes.com/election2024.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark (at) lawrencekstimes (dot) com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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