TOPEKA — Republican gubernatorial candidate Derek Schmidt waited till the submitting deadline Wednesday to announce his choice of a U.S. Senate aide with ties to Southeast Kansas as his working mate within the 2022 marketing campaign.
Schmidt, the state’s legal professional normal, was below strain from Kansas GOP hardliners to pick a distinctly conservative marketing campaign associate with a observe document alongside the traces of state Sens. Molly Baumgardner, Mike Thompson and Renee Erickson or state Reps. Kristey Williams and Ron Ryckman.
In the long run, Schmidt selected Katie Sawyer, a senior staffer for GOP U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall. Schmidt, in response to a query after submitting, stated the 2022 marketing campaign for governor wasn’t concerning the GOP nominee’s linkage to former Gov. Sam Brownback.
“Elections are concerning the future, not concerning the previous,” Schmidt stated. “I perceive that we’ve acquired some opponents on the opposite aspect who wish to relitigate their glory days and discuss issues which are lengthy since historical past in Kansas. We’re going ahead. I’m assured of 1 factor. We are able to do higher than Kansas has performed the final 4 years.”
After Schmidt’s announcement, the marketing campaign of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly despatched out a fundraising message that asserted Schmidt was eager to return to the “days of damaged budgets and underfunded colleges” below Brownback.
“This staff is making measurable variations within the lives of households throughout the state,” Kelly’s message stated, “however proper out of the gate, Derek Schmidt’s new working mate known as all of our work a ‘continuous disappointment.’ It’s all as a result of Laura is shifting us ahead as a substitute of racing backward to the Brownback period.”
Sawyer, 38, of McPherson, is a 2006 graduate of Pittsburg State College, with levels in journalism and worldwide research. She is a former reporter for the Pittsburg Morning Solar.
She labored for Marshall for the previous six years and owns a farm along with her husband in McPherson County. She served as director of profession providers at McPherson School from 2014 to 2016.
Schmidt and Sawyer joined forces to organize for the competition in opposition to Kelly, who’s searching for a second time period within the November normal election.
“I’m honored to reply this name to service and humbled that Derek has positioned his confidence in me to assist him get Kansas on observe after years of continuous disappointment from the Kelly administration,” Sawyer stated. “Derek Schmidt and I will probably be a governor and lieutenant governor who battle every single day for households like yours and mine to make Kansas one of the best state in America to dwell, work, increase a household and develop a enterprise.”
Schmidt stated Sawyer “brings a brand new era of younger and energetic management to assist us transfer Kansas ahead to a vivid and higher tomorrow.”
“She has her finger on the heartbeat of Kansas, and he or she is aware of precisely what they’re speaking about at their kitchen tables,” Marshall stated.
However Rep. Susan Ruiz, D-Shawnee, argued Sawyer’s work with Marshall was sufficient for her to know she wouldn’t serve the state’s greatest pursuits.
“He is a humiliation to our state, so she should be OK with that embarrassment in his type of politics,” Ruiz stated. “That’s all I must know that she is in line. She’s not stood out to say that her ideas are any completely different than theirs.”
Kelly, who’s searching for election to a second time period in November, is campaigning with Lt. Gov. David Toland, who additionally serves as secretary of the Kansas Division of Commerce. Kelly’s working mate in 2018 was Lynn Rogers, whom the governor appointed state treasurer in December 2019. Kelly filed for reelection two weeks in the past.
Schmidt, 54, served within the Kansas Senate from 2001 to 2011, representing a district that included Independence in southeast Kansas. He was elected legal professional normal in 2010 and reelected twice.
Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin Metropolis, stated selecting Sawyer was meant to deflect scrutiny on his insurance policies.
“The very last thing that I imagine he would need was one other shiny object on the ticket with him that might name into query his means to manipulate in a considerate method,” Holland stated. “So, I feel he has gone for a selection that’s completely below the radar.”
In January, former President Donald Trump endorsed Schmidt’s candidacy for governor, declaring Schmidt could be a “widespread and really smart selection.” Within the 2020 election, Trump carried Kansas with 56.2% of the vote in opposition to Democrat Joe Biden’s 41.5%.
The deadline for statewide candidates in Kansas to file for workplace was midday Wednesday, whereas the deadline for candidates for the Legislature, Congress and the Kansas Board of Training was set for June 10 on account of courtroom evaluation of redistricting maps. The deadline for voter registration for the Aug. 2 main is July 12.