Representation of the Democratic Party in Kansas is overshadowed by the Republicans. Republicans hold a supermajority in both houses of the Kansas Legislature. Local elections often have uncontested seats for public office, with many primaries left almost nonexistent for the Democrats.
In 2024, 31 Republicans won in 37 elections with no named opposing candidate according to Sedgwick County data, excluding township positions. All 21 elections for the 18th District Court were won unopposed by Republican candidates.
Wichita State’s chapter of Young Democrats, the youth wing of the Democratic Party, stressed the importance of paying attention to local politics, regardless of what happens at the national level.
“It is not abstract to see what your local people do,” chapter Treasurer Dominic Grotto said. “Those meetings are open to you; they are local.”
Chapter President Jenna Ghant’s mission statement for the organization is to “engage, educate and empower our students and our members,” she said.
WSU’s Young Democrats have worked toward this goal by holding town halls and meetings for the public to engage with local politicians, some of whom will be on the ballot in the Nov. 4 election.
Grotto and Ghant said it’s important for people to understand that policy starts from the ground up. Even if a voter may feel that their vote does not matter nationally, the person that they vote for locally means far more to their everyday lives than even their national representatives.
“You can see it in national legislation,” Grotto said. “Where do you think they get those ideas? It’s from somewhere below, and those places below got those ideas from somewhere below them. It really does start at the very, very bottom.”
Ghant said that it starts with the local elections, particularly the school board and city council, “even if people are nonpartisan.”
“School boards are so important because you see groups nationally like ‘Moms for Liberty’ try and quite frankly, punish local educators (and) professors,” Ghant said. “Anyone who does not align with their view, they put on blast. They post their faculty email and phone number, and I’m not going to say they sic harassment on people, but it sure gets close to it. Local school boards are where all of this is happening.”
Wichita Board of Education meetings are open to the public, and people can sign up to speak at meetings about the board’s business.
“At K-12 public education, you (generally) have right-wing influences,” Ghant said. “Whether it be money, whether it be candidates directly, or whether it be policy that is pushed by other lobbying groups that directly hurt our public schools and directly hurt kids who are in those public schools.”
The Young Democrats have become concerned with right-wing influences possibly damaging schools, particularly in their use of Christian ideals to espouse their views.
“I grew up Baptist (and) Methodist, going to church,” chapter Vice President Emily Spurlock said. “We always praise loving your neighbor and being kind to one another. I think, currently speaking, how MAGA is pushing Christian nationalism is arguably anti-Christian. Their beliefs pressing hatred and everything.”
Diane Albert, running for reelection to District 1 of the Wichita Board of Education, was part of a conservative wave in the Board’s 2021 elections along with Kathy Bond and Hazel Stabler. Albert ran on a campaign of being against “indoctrination” of the public schools and opposed the mask mandate.
“These school board elections are so important to determining how our public education system functions on a local level, how it is funded, and how and what it stands for in terms of its values,” Ghant said. “They’ve (conservative members of the Board) walked a lot of those positions back. Even the right-leaning candidates on the school board have supported the bond issue and have generally stood with the union on most major issues lately because they’re scared that they’re going to lose their seats.”
In September of this year, Young Democrats created a poster depicting President Donald Trump and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein with Epstein’s face covered up by a QR code to reach more students. When scanned, the QR code links to the organization’s linktr.ee.
“I want to keep it simple,” Grotto said. “I want to keep it flashy, kind of edgy. The main goal is to get clicks on that QR code — that’s it. And I feel like making it as simple and eye-catching (as possible). And obviously, we know who’s sitting behind that QR code. I’m not going to say it, but you’re already kind of tapping into people’s biases about how they feel about the people in that photo. I want those people on our team. I want people to look at it and at least get a chuckle, because just getting in their head space is already us winning.”
In addition to getting their name out to students on college campuses like WSU, Ghant said Young Democrats are working to get more Democrats on the ballot in places like Kansas.
“The answer is run, just run, people,” Ghant said. “Vet them, run them, get them on the ballot, have them campaign. They don’t have to be perfect, but it’s better than the current situation, and people need to know that there’s hope.”
