The Kansas Secretary of State has approved Republican Crystal Dozier’s request to be removed from the ballot for the House District 83 race.
Dozier had cited a medical hardship for having her name withdrawn from the ballot in the race against Democratic state Rep. Henry Helgerson.
Dozier cited COVID-19 in explaining her hardship, but didn’t go into details about her medical history that would keep her from running for office and serving.
A 2015 law only allows a nominee to remove their name from the ballot because they face a medical hardship or moved out of state. A name also can be removed in case of death.
“At this time, active campaigning as a candidate (as I would want to do and the constituents deserve) and in-person duties in the Legislature would further exacerbate this severe medical hardship until there’s more knowledge, treatment and/or a widely available vaccine,” Dozier said in her request.
“It would have been an honor to defeat a career politician, to bring a new voice to our Legislature, and provide the proactive representation the 83rd District deserves,” she wrote.
It will now be up to the Republican precinct committee members of the 83rd House District to fill the vacancy on the candidate.
The name already mentioned for the ballot is former Park City Councilman David Robbins, who lost to Helgerson with 38% of the vote in 2018.
Once the withdrawal is submitted, the Republican Party has 10 days to call and hold a meeting to select a replacement candidate to put on the ballot.
After the replacement candidate is selected, the county chair will forward the nomination certificate and the written acceptance of candidacy to the secretary of state or county election office within 14 days of the original candidate’s withdrawal from the race.
House District 83 is centered Sedgwick County. It went for Gov. Laura Kelly in 2018, Hillary Clinton in 2016, former gubernatorial candidate in Paul Davis in 2014 and Barack Obama in 2012.
Dozier is an assistant professor of anthropology at Wichita State University.
She also was an Adam Smith fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, which is a nonprofit, free-market-oriented think tank.
