(Updated to reflect Constance’s official filing)
A Shawnee City councilwoman who has been in the headlines for her environmental advocacy has filed to run for the Kansas Senate seat held by Republican incumbent Mary Pilcher-Cook.
Lindsey Constance, who represents Ward 4 on the City Council, had already filed paperwork weeks ago naming a campaign treasurer for Senate District 10 as first reported by the Sunflower State Journal weeks ago. She made the filing official Thursday.
Constance has a campaign kick off scheduled for early Friday evening.
“This district needs someone who will consistently advocate for the priorities of Kansas families,” Constance said in a statement.
““We need a stable budget, education funding at all levels, good-paying jobs, climate resilient solutions, and access to affordable healthcare. Stable, practical and data-driven decision making in Topeka will bring prosperity and vitality to Kansas Communities.”
Constance could be the third candidate to enter the race for Senate District 10, which covers swaths of western and central Johnson County including parts of Shawnee, Overland Park and Lake Quivira.
Republican state Rep. Tom Cox has already filed to run in the Republican primary. Constance is a Democrat.
An adviser to Pilcher-Cook has said she would announce her re-election on her own timeline.
Constance is among a group of emerging young Democrats running for federal, state and local offices across the state.
She was part of the 2017 class of the Kansas Young Democrats Bench Builder program, which provides financial and political help to Democratic candidates under 40.
Constance has been in the news recently for her work battling climate change. She co-founded Metro KC Climate Action Coalition, which is coordinating efforts across the metro area to address the impact of greenhouse gases.
Earlier this year, Constance testified before a Senate committee in favor of a bill reversing a Kansas Corporation Commission order allowing utility companies to charge a fee to customers who generate electricty from solar and wind sources.
Constance was elected to the Shawnee City Council Ward 4 seat in 2017 with almost 56% of the vote.
When she ran for the city council two years ago, Constance posted a video on Facebook describing the country’s “negative political climate” and the general inability to accomplish much.
“This polarization and resulting inability to solve important problems is heartbreaking,” she said in the video.
“When I began thinking about what this divisive climate would mean for my kids and their future, I knew I had to do something.”
A teacher in the Shawnee Mission School District, Constance earned a bachelor’s and two master’s degrees from the University of Kansas.
The district is 43% Republican, 26% Democrat and 30% unaffiliated. Democratic Congresswoman Sharice Davids and Gov. Laura Kelly won the district in 2018, but it has had Republican leanings over the years.
Republican Secretary of State Scott Schwab won the district last year, as did Republican Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt.
The district went for Donald Trump in 2016, former Gov. Sam Brownback in 2014 and Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential race.
