Republicans will remain in control of the Kansas House, but just how firm of a grip the caucus will have is still to be decided.
After moderate Republicans found themselves ousted by a slew of conservative challengers during the August primary, members of both parties are trying to hold onto key seats in suburban Kansas City that will help decide just how far the next governor’s agenda will make it in Topeka.
Democratic and Republican candidates have also faced controversies ahead of the Nov. 6 election that have reshaped often sleepy races in the Olathe area.
Here are some of the key general election races:
15th district: Haulmark vs. Toplikar
Deaf activist Chris Haulmark has continued campaigning for this Olathe-area House seat in the wake of The Star reporting earlier this month that multiple women have accused him of emotional abuse.
One of the woman alleged the candidate once threatened to burn down a tent with her young child sleeping inside.
Haulmark denies many of the allegations against him and says he has sought therapy for behavioral issues.
If Haulmark wins in the race against Republican John Toplikar, he would become the first deaf person elected as a state legislator.
Toplikar has been involved in Johnson County politics since the late 1980s. He served on the Olathe City Council, as a state representative, and as a Johnson County commissioner.
But he is best known for a 2008 incident when he was accused of stealing two of his opponent’s campaign signs. A video of the activity went viral and made national news, and Toplikar lost his Johnson County commission re-election bid by 42 votes.
Toplikar served 12 months’ probation, and a misdemeanor theft charge was dismissed. Toplikar went on to win back that commission seat and served from 2013 to 2017.
16th district: Holscher vs. Huff
After winning this House seat in 2016, which includes part of Overland Park and Lenexa, Democrat Cindy Holscher played a pivotal role in a bipartisan women’s caucus that pushed to roll back Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax cuts.
Republicans are now trying to win back this seat with a challenge from Lenexa’s Sue Huff. The substitute teacher is critical of tax increases on her campaign website.
“It is important to keep our businesses and people in Kansas with low taxes, and a regulatory environment focused on economic growth,” Huff says on her website.
Holscher said her pitch to voters is letting them know that she delivered on her campaign promises, including “reversing the Brownback disaster.”
“I would be very much willing to work across the aisle again,” Holscher said.
Holscher said school funding has moved in the right direction, but that there is still a ways to go. She said she plans to continue advocating and pushing for Medicaid expansion.
25th district: Xu vs. Rooker
One of the most established moderates in the Kansas House is facing a challenge from the left that reflects some of the anxiety voters are having with GOP candidates in the era of President Donald Trump.
Rep. Melissa Rooker, a Fairway Republican, has become one of the definitive centrist voices on education in the Kansas Legislature as lawmakers have struggled to adequately fund public schools in the state.
With votes for Medicaid expansion and rolling back Brownback’s tax cuts, Rooker has often been to the left of the GOP caucus. She’s also struck a centrist balance on abortion and guns, much to the chagrin of some in her party.
She told The Star after the August GOP primary that she did not plan to support Republican nominee for governor Kris Kobach in the November election.
“I have a track record that demonstrates that I am not a rubber stamp for the interest of any single organization,” Rooker said. “I’m not a rubber stamp for the party I’m affiliated with.”
Challenging Rooker is Rui Xu, a Westwood Democrat.
Trump’s election led to Xu’s decision to run for office, he said. The 29-year-old Chinese immigrant became a U.S. citizen in seventh grade.
Xu criticized corporate influence in politics and said his campaign is focusing on the environment and net neutrality.
“As a strong Democrat, there was this difference in her perception of who she is and her actual voting record,” Xu said of Rooker.
26th district: Mitchell vs. Thomas
Voters are likely to elect a candidate charged with election fraud to the Kansas House.
Republican Adam Thomas looked like a shoo-in when he filed to run for this long-held Republican seat. But after Democrats began to question whether he lived in the district, Thomas was arrested in September on a felony charge of election fraud.
The charge stems from an allegation that on May 31, he submitted a falsified document to state or county election officials.
An attorney for Thomas has decried the charges against him.
Olathe Democrat Deann Mitchell is running against Thomas for the open seat.
29th district: Parker vs. Todd vs. Firestone
Back in 2016, Democrat Brett Parker was able to wrestle this seat away from Republican James Todd.
This year, Todd is trying to do the same thing to Parker. Libertarian Robert Firestone is also in the race.
During his time in Topeka, Parker has been one of Kobach’s biggest critics. The school teacher also supported Medicaid expansion, a greater level of funding for public schools than was passed into law and pushed for added transparency measures in the legislature.
Parker said he is committed to “finishing the job on fully funding schools.”
His goal is to continue to fix schools and budgets from “the Brownback disaster.”
“Obviously (Kris) Kobach’s running on bringing those things back so (I’m) making sure if he’s elected there’s a legislative check on that,” Parker said.
Todd declined to say whether he is supporting Kobach, his party’s nominee for governor, or whether he would have supported the Medicaid expansion legislation that passed the House and was vetoed by then Gov. Brownback in 2017.
Todd was not critical of Parker’s vote to roll back Brownback’s tax cuts during an interview, but criticized Parker for voting against a hastily assembled bill that would have made an effort to return a “tax windfall” to taxpayers. He also called for attention to be paid the future of the highway system and how it impacts Johnson County.
“I think people in this district want a rep that is willing to work with others, whether it be Republican, Democrat, conservative, moderate,” Todd said. “I think there was some hope from some people that that was going to be what Parker was and in reality he’s been one of the more partisan people in the House.”
30th district: Woodard vs. Bingesser
With a district that includes parts of Lenexa and Olathe, this race could be a bellwether for how Republicans and Democrats are faring on election night.
Rep. Randy Powell, one of the most conservative Republicans in the House, chose not to run for re-election. That created an opening for conservative Wendy Bingesser to run with Powell’s endorsement. She defeated a more moderate opponent in the August GOP primary.
Earlier this summer, Bingesser said she really liked Powell’s values. She has said some of her top priorities are cancer education, health care research and tax reform. She also said she’s upset with the state’s sales tax on food.
On the Democratic side, Brandon Woodard of Lenexa could become the first openly gay member of the Kansas Legislature if he wins. Woodard won out over a self-identified progressive challenger in the August primary.
Woodard has twice been cited for drunk driving.
Woodard has said he’s focusing on lowering, or even eliminating, the sales tax on food. The other main tenets of his campaign are investing in education and expanding Medicaid.
The Star’s Lynn Horsley contributed to this report.