Former Southeast of Saline School Board member Lori Blake announced Monday morning that she plans to challenge Republican state Rep. Clarke Sanders for the House.
Blake, a Democrat, is running for the House District 69 seat that covers parts of central Kansas, including all or parts of Assaria, Bridgeport, Brookville and Salina.
During her three terms on the school board, Blake was elected as president of the Kansas Association of School Boards.
“We’ve made great gains in stabilizing the funding for public education and growing a rainy-day fund, but our legislators have forgotten their duty,” Blake said in a statement.
“The legislature’s job is to fund the work, not continue passing policy that should be decided by our locally elected school board members and city and county commissioners who know our community values and needs,” she said.
After 10 years of being an unaffiliated registered voter, Blake said she filed as a Democrat.
Blake said she wants to represent Saline County and “create opportunities for unity instead of extreme division.”
As an example of her bipartisan leadership, Blake said she enlisted John Quinley, a Republican from Salina, to serve as her treasurer.
A graduate of Bethany College with a bachelor’s in communications, Blake also has worked as executive director of child advocacy and parenting services in Salina.
“Over three decades as a small business owner and administrator in public education, disability supports and child abuse prevention, I have learned families are the foundation for society,” Blake said.
“When they thrive, we all do, but that’s not currently what’s happening. Many families are in survival mode.” she said.
Blake is taking on Sanders, who replaced J.R. Claeys when he ran for the Kansas Senate four years ago.
Two years ago, Sanders defeated Democrat Sarah Crews with 65% of the vote.
Republican Derek Schmidt carried this district with 51% of the vote in 2022, while Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly received about 45% of the vote.
About 46% of the voters here are Republicans and about 20% are Democrats.
About 32% of the voters here are unaffiliated.
