Republican Sen. Dennis Pyle has joined the race for Senate vice president against rival Sens. Molly Baumgardner and Rick Wilborn.
Pyle sent out an email to senators Monday, asking for their support for the leadership position.
In an interview, Pyle said it was important to bring geographic diversity to the leadership team, noting that the chamber’s leaders shouldn’t be mostly from one region of the state.
“There are geographical reasons to get in this race,” Pyle said.
“Geography plays into leadership races, I think. We don’t need a leadership delegation that is totally made up of all south-central” Kansas.
Sen. Ty Masterson, now expected to be the next Senate president, is from Andover in Butler County.
Two of the candidates for majority leader – Gene Suellentrop and Carolyn McGinn – are also from south-central Kanas, as is Wilborn.
Baumgardner is from Miami County.
Pyle, of Hiawatha, represents northeast Kansas, which he believes should be included on the new Senate leadership team.
Pyle was just elected to a fifth term in the state Senate. He’s been in the Legislature for about 20 years, including a term in the Kansas House.
He faces Baumgardner, chair of the Senate education committee who was elected to the Senate in 2014.
He also is battling Wilborn, a senator since 2014 who now chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.
