Republican state Sen. Tim Shallenburger has joined the race for Senate vice president against fellow Republican Renee Erickson of Wichita.
Shallenburger on Tuesday officially announced his intention to run for the position that will come open with Rick Wilborn of McPherson moving over to the House in 2025.
“After careful consideration and considerable encouragement, I have decided to run for the
position of vice president of the Kansas Senate,” he wrote in a letter to Republican senators.
“I do so with an understanding there are others in the race. However, I have always believed (unlike national Democrats) that competition and discussion is useful in our democratic process,” he wrote.
Shallenburger’s entrance into the race for Senate vice president will give Republicans in the chamber three contested races for leadership positions.
Republican state Sen. Chase Blasi of Wichita is taking on incumbent Senate Majority Leader Larry Alley of Winfield.
And Republican state Sen. Caryn Tyson of Parker is running against Republican Sen. Beverly Gossage of Eudora for assistant majority leader in the Senate.
Shallenburger served in the Kansas House from 1987 to 1998, including two years as speaker pro tem and four years as speaker.
He served as state treasurer from 1999 to 2003 and chair of the Kansas Republican Party in 2005.
In 2002, Shallenburger ran for governor, losing to Democrat Kathleen Sebelius.
He later went to work for former Gov. Sam Brownback, who hired him as legislative director.
Shallenburger returned to the Kansas political scene in 2023 when precinct committee leaders picked him to replace Republican Sen. Richard Hilderbrand of Baxter Springs.
Shallenburger was just elected to a full four-year term last week.
“Why does my experience merit your vote,” Shallenburger asked in his letter.
“I’ve done this long enough that I’ve seen things work well and not work well; I’ve seen the impact of a bottoms-up strategy and a top-down plan,” he wrote.
“I know you were elected to represent a district whose constituents sent you to Topeka with expectations of things to do,” he said.
“We need to give you the chance to make that case among the body and get a vote on your ideas,” he wrote.
Shallenburger called for an “open and honest” process that guards against “concentrating too much power or authority in a select group of members or in one geographic location.”
He added, “Being in leadership isn’t about driving a personal agenda but promoting the will of the caucus.
“We are all elected as Republicans and share the values of this party; on that there is no dispute. But there are differences, often geographic, that merit more perspectives in the room,” he wrote.
Erickson has been in the Kansas Senate since 2021, and she was just elected to a second term last week. She earlier served in the Kansas House from 2019 to 2020.
Erickson, currently the assistant majority leader, chairs the Senate Commerce Committee.
She also chairs the Special Committee on Foreign Trade and Regulatory Sandboxes.
Previously she chaired the Special Committee on Government Overreach and the Impact of COVID-19 and the Special Committee on Child Care Centers and Child Care Homes.
As she makes her case for the position, Erickson says she is a leader with an ability to influence others to “get the job done.”
She says she’s a “competent, trusted and resilient state senator who shares” GOP values.
Erickson said she’s “ready on day one to provide the communication, support and respect you deserve from a Senate vice president.”
Meanwhile, the race for assistant majority leader pits Tyson and against Gossage.
Tyson, chair of the Senate tax and the Legislative Post-Audit committees, was just elected to her fourth term in the Senate.
She also served one term in the House before joining the Senate.
In a letter to Republicans in the Senate caucus, Tyson vowed to be a strong advocate for lower taxes and limited government.
She said she wants to build a team in the Senate that provides an opportunity for every Republican senator to be heard and be successful.
Gossage came to the Senate in 2020 when precinct committee leaders chose her to replace former state Sen. Julia Lynn of Olathe.
She was elected to a full four-year term later that year and was reelected to a second term last week.
Gossage chairs the Senate Public Health Committee, the Special Committee on Mental Health and the Special Committee on Intellectual and Developmental Disability Waiver.
Gossage told members of the Republican caucus that Republicans must work to seize the unique opportunity of the expanded GOP supermajority to promote policies “that will better (Kansans’) lives and do so in a humble and honest way.”
