Lawmakers picked their new leadership teams Monday, electing Ron Ryckman Jr. to an unprecedented third term as speaker, Ty Masterson as the new Senate president and Dinah Sykes as the Senate’s first female minority leader.
There was little drama on Monday as much of the jockeying had already played out weeks ago, especially following last summer’s primary election when conservative Republicans overwhelmingly defeated moderates.
Masterson’s rise to Senate president had been sealed more than a week ago after moderate Republican Sen. Jeff Longbine bowed out of seeking any leadership position.
The Andover Republican was elected by acclamation.
Longbine said in an interview last week that he decided against seeking a leadership post following an election that saw conservatives assert more control in the chamber.
It was believed that Masterson gained a leg up in the race for Senate president when six of seven moderate incumbent Republicans lost their primary elections last summer.
The GOP held onto its 29-member supermajority in the Senate, of which 24 senators could now fall into the conservative camp going into the next legislative session.
Before the election, moderates held about 10 seats in the Senate.
Masterson predicted that the Legislature would revisit tax policy changes that have been previously vetoed by the governor as well as a constitutional amendment that would ensure that abortion is not a protected right in the state constitution.
“Those are big items,” Masterson said. “We have to work now to gather the caucus and see what the will of the caucus is, then we’ll determine an agenda.”
His Democratic counterpart in the Senate will be Sykes, who left the Republican Party two years ago because she thought the GOP had drifted too far to the right.
Sykes defeated veteran state Sen. Marci Francisco 6-5.
She replaces Anthony Hensley, the longest-serving member of the Legislature who has been the Senate minority leader since 1997. Hensley lost his bid for an eighth term.
The minority leader’s staff believe Sykes is the first woman to hold the position.
“I don’t think anyone can replace Anthony,” Sykes said. “He was a historic leader. He’s going to be on speed dial.”
She acknowledged that Democrats will have a challenging year after failing to break up the Republican supermajority in the Senate.
“With any challenges there are opportunities,” she said. “We don’t have the numbers that we wanted to coming in. We have an opportunity, and we will work together and be a united front and work for Kansans.”
Sykes said she would count on members of the Democratic caucus as she establishes her leadership style in the Senate.
“I’m going to be relying on the strengths of our team,” she said. “It will be a team effort. I have will have to rely on others a lot more.”
Gov. Laura Kelly tweeted a out a congratulations to Sykes.
“Congratulations to Senator Sykes on becoming the first woman to serve in this distinguished role,” Kelly tweeted.
“I look forward to working with you, @dinah_sykes, and I know you’ll have great success.”
In other Senate Republican leadership races decided Monday:
- Sen. Rick Wilborn of McPherson emerged from a three-way field to become the new vice president. Wilborn led the first round of balloting with 12 votes to nine for Sen. Dennis Pyle of Hiawatha and eight for Molly Baumgardner of Louisburg. In the second round, Wilborn defeated Pyle 15-12 with two senators not casting a ballot.
- Sen. Gene Suellentrop of Wichita was elected majority leader over Republican Carolyn McGinn of Sedgwick in a 20-7 vote. Two senators did not cast a vote. Suellentrop replaces Jim Denning of Overland Park, who did not run for reelection.
- Sen. Larry Alley of Winfield defeated Sen. Rob Olson of Olathe for assistant minority leader. Alley defeated Olson 17-12. Alley replaces Sen. Mike Petersen.
- Sen. Richard Hilderbrand of Galena upset Sen. Elaine Bowers of Concordia for majority whip 16-12 with one senator not voting. Bowers was the incumbent for the position.
On the Democratic side of the Senate:
- Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau of Wichita was elected assistant minority leader over Sen. Tom Holland of Baldwin City in a 7-4 vote.
- Sen. Pat Pettey of Kansas City was elected as minority whip. She was unopposed.
- Francisco was elected agenda chair. She was unopposed.
- Freshman Sen. Jeff Pittman of Leavenworth defeated Sen. Tom Hawk for caucus chair 6-5.
Over in the House, Ryckman won a historic third term as speaker.
He signaled last year he would seek another term as speaker when he filed for reelection along with House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins and Speaker Pro Tem Blaine Finch.
Ryckman, Hawkins and Finch have generally worked in tandem, many times joining together in statements about public policy.
“I’m humbled and honored by this opportunity to lead during this remarkable times,” Ryckman said in a text. “We have a lot of work to do.”
Hawkins was reelected House majority leader, and Finch was reelected speaker pro tem.
Ryckman, 48, is now entering his fifth term after he was elected to represent House District 78 in 2012.
The Olathe lawmaker just came off a rigorous reelection fight in which he was targeted by Democrats who fielded a retired teacher against him.
In other House leadership elections:
- Rep Les Mason was reelected assistant majority leader. He was unopposed.
- Rep. Blake Carpenter was reelected House majority whip. He was unopposed.
- Rep. Ken Rahjes was elected House majority caucus chair 49-32 over Rep. Tory Arnberger. He replaces Rep. Susan Humphries, who did not seek reelection.
Meanwhile, state Rep. Tom Sawyer was reelected as the top Democrat in the House.
First elected to the House in 1986, Sawyer served as majority leader from 1991 to 1992, when Democrats last were in the majority in the House and Democrat Joan Finney was governor.
Sawyer later presided as the caucus leader when Democrats were in the minority from 1993 to 1998. He ran unsuccessfully for governor against incumbent Bill Graves in 1998. Sawyer returned to the House from 2003 to 2009, then again in 2013.
In other Democratic leadership elections:
- Rep. Jason Probst of Hutchinson defeated Rep. Valdenia Winn of Kansas City 26-13 for assistant majority leader. Rep. Brett Parker of Overland Park was originally in the race but withdrew.
- Rep. Stephanie Clayton of Overland Park defeated Rep. Jarrod Ousley of Merriam 26-13 for minority whip.
- Rep. Barbara Ballard of Lawrence was reelected caucus chair. She was unopposed.
- Rep. Brandon Woodard of Lenexa was elected as House agenda chair. He was unopposed.
- Rep. Rui Xu of Westwood was elected House policy chair. He was unopposed.
