Senate races include some familiar faces
By The Herald Staff
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Two area state senators have filed for re-election and one representative wants to be a state senator.
Sens. Pat Apple, R-Louisburg, and Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, have filed for re-election.
Rep. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City, has decided to challenge an incumbent Douglas County senator.
Holland
Holland, who represents north Ottawa, Wellsville and southern Douglas County, will challenge incumbent Roger Pine, R-Lawrence, for his 3rd District state senate seat. Patrick Wilbur, a Libertarian, also plans to run for the seat.
Holland’s filing opens up his 10th District House seat.
One person, Democrat Tony Brown, Baldwin City, has filed for Holland’s House seat.
Pine’s senate district includes part of Douglas County and Lawrence, all of Jefferson County and most of rural Leavenworth County.
Holland, became the 10th District representative in 2004 when he upset Ralph Tanner, R-Baldwin City.
He was ranking Democrat on the House Taxation Committee and was among the leaders in funding for public education, health insurance legislation and against two proposed coal plants in western Kansas.
Apple
Apple has filed for re-election to his 12th District senate seat, which includes all but part of southwestern Franklin County, and parts of Anderson, Miami and Linn counties.
“Representing the people of the 12th District has been an honor,” Apple, Louisburg Republican, said. “While it has been challenging at times, I enjoy the people and the process.
“ I have worked hard to try to represent the people of our district in the decisions made by the legislature. There are still things I’d like to accomplish, and if the people of the 12th district give me the opportunity, it would be a privilege to continue to serve.”
He is in his first four-year term in the Senate. No one else has filed for the seat.
Apple, a former Louisburg school board member, said he worked diligently to help create a long term, equitable way to finance K-12 public education.
Apple also touted his work on an law that limited when eminent domain can be used to take private property and as vice-chairman of the Senate Utilities Committee, where he was involved in the study and debate surrounding a comprehensive state energy policy.
He also supported a constitutional amendment that banned gay marriage.
He is also member of the Assessment and Taxation Committee, the Education Committee, the Transportation Committee and the Senate-House Joint Committee on State Building Construction.
Apple was a member of the 2007 Class of Leadership Kansas and was named Elected Official of the Year for 2008 by the Kansas Emergency Medical Technicians. He was nominated and has been selected for participation in the Bowhay Institute for Legislative Leadership Development by the Council of State Governments.
Schmidt
Schmidt has filed for re-election for his sprawling 15th Senate District, which includes Williamsburg and southwestern Franklin County and reaches the Oklahoma state line.
Schmidt, Republican from Independence, is the Senate Majority Leader, a post he has held since 2005. He was elected to the senate in 2001.
He also serves as chairman of the Confirmation Oversight Committee and as vice chairman of the Assessment & Taxation Committee.
He was named an outstanding legislator by the Council of State Governments and he is on the International Committee of the Council of State Governments. He was selected to participate in the 2001 Bowhay Institute for Legislative Leadership Development. He also has been selected by the Aspen Institute as a Rodel Fellow for 2008-09.
No one else has filed to challenge Schmidt.
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