Preliminary results indicate that all BV-area pro-public education incumbents in the Kansas Legislature have retained their seats. We congratulate our endorsed candidates State Senator Cindy Holscher and KS House Reps. Linda Featherston, Mari-Lynn Poskin, Heather Meyer, and Dan Osman on their re-election. Rep. Nikki McDonald in HD 49 is leading by 124 votes after Wednesday’s mail ballots were added to yesterday’s reported totals. We are optimistic that she will be re-elected as well.
Unfortunately, Blue Valley did not elect additional pro-public education legislators, nor did we defeat the four BV-area legislators who regularly vote against our kids’ schools: Kellie Warren, Carl Turner, Chris Croft and Sean Tarwater. These four will continue to be significant obstacles to Blue Valley Schools, moreso because the MAGA Republican supermajority in the KsLeg remains intact after this election. Americans For Prosperity-backed Senate 35 candidate TJ Rose was also elected.
We’re disappointed that BV voters did not elect Karen Thurlow and Jason Anderson to the Kansas Senate, and that Pam Shernuk and Dr. David Benson lost their bids for the Kansas House. Dr. Ace Allen was likely not elected either, though HD 28 remains close at 159 votes separating the two candidates, with Thursday’s and Friday’s mail ballots and provisional ballots yet to be counted. We strongly believe that these candidates would have represented Blue Valley voters far better than the alternatives. We thank them all for their hard work in the election, and for running.
Mail ballots postmarked by Election Day and received in the mail by Friday, Nov. 8, will be added to totals on Thursday and Friday. See Unofficial JoCo results here: https://www.jocoelection.org/events-elections/november-5-2024-general-election click “Unofficial Final Results;” daily updates and final results will be posted here also. Election results will not be final until Nov. 15, when officials consider each provisional ballot.
It’s important to note that state legislative districts were redrawn in 2022 by the Republican majority, to favor Republican candidates. Redistricting is why Senate 37 (previously held by Molly Baumgardner) is no longer in Blue Valley, and Senate 35 is a new BV-area district. So when comparing election numbers to 2 and 4 years ago, it’s not all the same voters.
Because the Kansas Legislature will continue to have a Republican supermajority in both chambers, they have enough votes to override Gov. Kelly’s veto in basically any circumstance. To be blunt, this does not bode well for public schools.
Another positive note: we are thrilled that our endorsed candidate Julie Brewer soundly defeated Charlotte O’Hara for Johnson County Commissioner. Brewer will add a knowledgeable, common sense, pro-community, pro-public education voice to the County Commission.
We’re also pleased that our endorsed candidate Melanie Haas retained her seat on the Kansas State Board of Education. Haas, a Shawnee Mission-area parent, has done good and thoughtful work on the SBOE and we appreciate her running again. Overall the direction of the SBOE is highly concerning however: https://kansasreflector.com/2024/11/05/kansas-state-board-of-education-election-results-favor-conservative-power/
Thank you to everyone who helped spread the word about this election by talking to friends and neighbors, sharing our posts and Voting Guide, and donating to SUBV. We had a $2,000 matching grant that was quickly reached, allowing us to purchase social media advertising and run a texting campaign. All of our graphics and content are produced by volunteers, so the money raised went directly to sharing our message with voters.
Thank you to those who helped our endorsed candidates with their campaigns. Immense thank yous are owed to the candidates themselves, their loved ones, and close supporters. Campaigning is a LOT of hard work and stress.
We also want to thank the election office workers, who put in long hours to plan for and execute a huge undertaking, and poll workers who gave up one or more days to support advance and Election Day voting.
We’ll remind you again that the Johnson County Post is a valuable source of news that you can’t get anywhere else, and well worth the monthly subscription. The Post held forums and published Q & As with candidates to help voters get the information they needed to vote. As always, we don’t get anything for our recommendation other than continued good local journalism. https://johnsoncountypost.com/2024/11/05/county-commission-races-2024-general-246243/
We also recommend adding the Kansas Reflector to your regular reading. Experienced journalists provide in-depth reporting on education and a wide variety of Kansas issues. No subscription needed. (See link in the SBOE paragraph, above.)
Candidate fundraising, but to an exponentially larger degree, local, state and national political organizations, PACs, and dark money provided Blue Valley voters with a nonstop barrage of “information.” Mailers, streaming ads, texts, phone calls, social media ads, canvassers, and yard signs were inescapable over the past weeks. Stand Up Blue Valley continues to be dismayed by the hundreds of thousands of dollars poured into Blue Valley legislative races by outsiders who don’t live here, and don’t want what’s best for Blue Valley kids. Four of 5 BV-area candidates backed by Americans for Prosperity’s hundreds of thousands of dollars (to name just one outside organization) won. The odds are just too stacked in their favor with all of that money.
The volunteers of Stand Up Blue Valley remain encouraged by area voters’ positive comments, donations, helping in many ways, and supporting candidates who value our neighborhood schools. Blue Valley has come a LONG way since we started in 2015, when NOT ONE state legislator voted for our BV Schools. Thank you for your continued support.
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