A retired Methodist minister is challenging Republican state Rep. Adam Turk of Shawnee for the House District 117 seat in western Johnson County and eastern Douglas County.
Bill Hammond, who also worked as the chief business officer for two community colleges and a western Kansas school district, has filed to run for the seat that represents parts of De Soto, Lenexa, Olathe, Shawnee, Eudora and Lawrence.
Hammond, a Democrat, said in an announcement that his top priority is expanding Medicaid and defending “a woman’s right to autonomy in her health care decisions.”
He also advocates for fully funding public schools, including special education.
“The policies advanced by Kansas legislators have not consistently been in line with the values Kansans have expressed in opinion polls,” he said in his announcement.
“Legislators are needed who have experience living in communities with a wide range of perspectives.
“They need the breadth of experience to understand the issues being brought from those communities,” he said.
He previously served as the dean of finance and operations at Highland Community College and Garden City Community College.
He retired from the Dodge City school district after 13 years of service as their business officer, where he worked with Schools for Fair Funding, the group that successfully challenged school funding in Kansas.
He earned a bachelor’s in speech and theater from Missouri Western State College and a master’s in divinity from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
He previously served as associate pastor at 1st United Methodist Church in St. Joseph.
He also was assigned by the Methodist bishop at one point to serve several smaller churches as well.
Turk said his record as a lawmaker should speak for itself.
“I’ve walked this district corner to corner,” Turk said.
“As a Main Street candidate, I’m gong to continue to fight for a low tax burden and getting government out of the way of the people,” he said.
“I think my track record shows it,” he said.
Two years ago, Democrat Courtney Tripp – now a member of the De Soto City Council – ran against Turk for the District 117 seat and lost by 435 votes.
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly carried this district in the 2022 governor’s race with about 53% of the vote. Republican Derek Schmidt received about 44% of the vote.
The abortion amendment lost in this district with about 36% of the vote in 2022.
