Democrat Kelly Schodorf, the daughter of former state Sen. Jean Schodorf, is campaigning for the Senate seat that will be vacated when Lynn Rogers is sworn in as lieutenant governor.
Schodorf confirmed in an email Friday that she’s seeking the appointment to the District 25 seat that Rogers has held since being elected to the Kansas Senate in 2016.
Democratic precinct committee members will choose Rogers’ replacement next Saturday, Dec. 1. Schodorf, an attorney, is believed to be the only person running for the seat.
Inspired by her mother’s public service, Schodorf said in a letter to precinct committee members that she has the policy, fundraising and political experience to keep Republicans from taking the seat in 2020.
Republicans and Democrats each make up about 30 percent of the district. Unaffiliated voters comprise about 40 percent.
Former Republican state Sen. Michael O’Donnell defeated Jean Schodorf in 2012 as part of the GOP’s purge of moderate Republican senators at the political height of former Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration. O’Donnell left the Senate to run for Sedgwick County Commission and is now facing criminal charges.
“Not only did I grow up in the district, I spent my formative years talking with the voters of District 25,” Schodorf wrote.
“As my mother’s campaign chair, I personally walked thousands of district doors and won multiple elections,” her letter said.
“I know who our neighbors are and what they care about. I also know what they want to see in their state senator.”
It’s why Schodorf said she and her mother supported Rogers when he ran for the Senate two years ago.
Schodorf graduated from the University of Kansas Law School in 2016. While in law school, she interned for U.S. District Judge Thomas Marten, chief judge for the Kansas District.
She also has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Wichita State University.
