A primary is emerging for the House seat that will come open with House Minority Leader Vic Miller’s decision to run for the Kansas Senate.
Wendy Damman-Bednar, a U.S. Army veteran who has experience in Kansas politics, has filed to run for the House District 58 seat.
Damman-Bednar’s entrance into the race sets up a primary with Alexis Simmons, who now works as the communications director for Miller.
A Franklin County native, Damman-Bednar worked as a regional director of field operations for the Democratic Party’s coordinated campaign in the 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts in 2018.
She now works at the Kansas Department of Transportation, where she is a public service administrator.
“We must break the supermajority in the Kansas Legislature to get meaningful action on issues that matter most to Kansans,” Damman-Bednar said in announcing her candidacy.
“The ultra-conservative agenda has dominated the Kansas House for too many years, and we need representatives willing to actively oppose this ideological platform,” she said.
“I will be that Legislator. Working for the people, not the lobbyists every day I serve in office,” she said.
Damman-Bednar promises to be a “vocal defender” of abortion rights and will support expanding abortion rights. She also will support legalization of medical marijuana.
House District 58 leans heavily Democratic.
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly won 68% of the vote in this Topeka district in the 2022 governor’s race, while Republican Derek Schmidt won 29% of the vote here.
About 40% of the voters in this district are Democrats, while 24% are Republican and about 35% are unaffiliated.
Simmons’ great uncle is former Kansas Attorney General Bob Stephan.
She joined the House Democratic staff in 2021 when she was hired by former Minority Leader Tom Sawyer as communications director.
She remained in that position when Miller became minority leader last year.
Simmons is a graduate of Washburn University where she served as student body president and majored in political science.
