Ellinwood School Board member John Sturn is jumping into the race for Senate District 33, a seat now represented by Republican Alicia Straub, who already faces primary opposition.
Sturn, a Republican, would face opposition from at least state Rep. Tory Blew of Great Bend, who announced last year that she’s running for the Senate.
It has not been clear whether Straub is running again for the seat.
She has not returned emails seeking comment on her political future, and her 2023 fundraising trailed many others who are running this year.
A graduate of Kansas State University, Sturn worked in the natural gas pipeline business as an engineer and in field operations management.
He said he’s now in his 11th year on the Ellinwood School Board.
He said he’s running to ensure that the priorities of schools and rural communities are placed ahead of “the priorities of the large political lobbying organizations that are increasing their influence in Topeka.”
Last year, he authored a letter published in the Hutchinson News, criticizing efforts to pass a flat tax in the Legislature.
In a separate piece published by the Great Brend Tribune, Sturn said the flat tax “routes large tax reductions to those of us with the most money.” He said the flat tax “minimizes the benefit to middle-income earners.”
“Flat tax promoters will not propose stand-alone property tax relief, sales tax reduction, or middle- and low-income tax reduction,” Sturn wrote in the Hutchinson paper.
“They refuse such legislation that benefits most working Kansans.
“Rather they try to add the minimum of these benefits required to enact legislation to serve their first loyalty: No Kansans get any tax cuts if wealthy Kansans do not first receive the major benefit.”
In an interview, Sturn called moving to a single-rate structure a “radical change.”
“There’s not really anything conservative about it,” he said.
Sturn said he favors keeping the state’s current three-tiered system and cutting taxes across all the brackets.
He called a two-bracket system – like one currently being considered by the Legislature – a “half step” toward a flat tax.
Two years ago, Sturn appeared before the House K-12 Education Budget Committee and testified against a bill establishing a parent’s bill of rights and requiring school districts to screen library books for offensive material.
The bill was intended to require local school boards to develop policies with input from parents, teachers and school administrators that would guarantee a parent’s right to be involved with their child’s education.
As first proposed, the bill attracted opponents who said it wasn’t necessary, weakened vaccine requirements, may lead to censorship of books and could lead to the prosecution of teachers who unwittingly exposed students to educational material deemed as offensive.
Sturn testified that the bill would have forced teachers and instructional support staff to spend time satisfying the demands of the bill instead of helping students.
He said nothing in the bill would encourage teachers to continue teaching or for anyone to enter teaching.
“It would require our teachers to maintain a lawsuit-ready online defense of their teaching,” he told the committee in written testimony.
The Legislature tried to pass a parent bill of rights twice. It was vetoed by Gov. Laura Kelly in 2022 and 2023, and the Legislature failed overcome her veto in each of those years.
Former Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt carried this Senate district with 62% of the vote in the 2022 governor’s race. Gov. Laura Kelly received about 33%.
The Value Them Both abortion amendment won in this district last year with 57% of the vote.
The composition of the district is 65% Republican, 13% Democrat and 21% unaffiliated.
Straub was first elected in 2020, defeating moderate Republican Mary Jo Taylor in the primary with about 60% of the vote.
Straub raised $2,445 last year and had $647 in cash on hand at the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Blew raised $21,721 last year and had $20,662 in cash on hand at the end of the year.
Elected in 2016 to represent the 112th House District, Blew is now in her fourth term in the House. The Fort Hays State University graduate was elected at 23 years old.
“We’ve known for a while that Laura Kelly has been recruiting liberals to run as Republicans in split primaries,” Blew said in a text message.
“Voters of the 33rd district know I am a true common sense conservative, and rural values are at the forefront of every decision I make,” she said.
