Democrat Andrew Mall, a local businessman and realtor, is challenging incumbent state Sen. Mike Thompson for control of Kansas Senate District 10.
This central Johnson County district is one of the races that may determine whether Republicans can maintain their supermajority in the Kansas Legislature.
Mall and Thompson joined KCUR's Up To Date to debate their vision for the legislature if elected.
Education
Public education is a major factor for many Johnson County voters. While the county's schools rank well nationally, Thompson is concerned with the direction of public education.
"The illusion that these students are actually performing is not fitting with the facts that we're getting on the ground," he says.
Thompson wants Kansas to look at how it allocates education funds, rather than increasing education budgets.
"We spend $11 billion per year on education in this state," Thompson says. "It's just how the money is being used and how the curriculum is being presented to these kid that's failing."
Mall says he hears that voters are still happy with public education in the district.
"I'm a realtor, and when I help folks look for homes in our area, one of the number one things that they ask for, and one of the number one reasons they choose Johnson County is because of the strength of our public schools," he says.
Mall also defends the state's education budget.
"It actually added administrative staff to the schools, which actually allowed the teachers to focus more on the students."
Shawnee Mission Northwest, a high school in District 10, was recently ranked the 9th best public high school in Kansas.
Abortion
Thompson says he is "obviously" pro-life, but supports allowing abortions in cases of rape, incest, or the mother's life.
"Democrats and my opponents seem to think that the only option a young woman has is to get an abortion," he says. "We want to empower these young women to choose life for their baby rather than death."
Mall fully supports Kansans' existing abortion access rights.
"I stand behind the more than 56% of the voters in District 10 that voted against the ban on abortion, and I believe the government should stay out of personal private matters, period," Mall said.
Mall brought up Thompson's 2023 vote against a motion that would force a debate on legislation protecting IVF in Kansas.
Thompson says that was a "gotcha vote."
Taxes
Thompson supports implementing tax cuts similar to those implemented under former Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback
"He (Brownback) has been vilified improperly, the consensus revenue estimates after his tax cuts never showed that there was any problem at all," Thompson said.
"No one that I talked to when I'm knocking doors wants to be 'Brownbacked' again.," Mall responded. "They don't want Brownback 2.0, which is what Mike Thompson is pushing."
Mall is concerned a flat tax, like the one that Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed earlier this year, would place a higher burden on middle income families.
"A family filing jointly and making under $100,000 were seeing less than $1 in tax savings," he said. "And if you made double that, you were seeing almost 10 times that amount in savings from a tax perspective."
Medicaid expansion
Kansas is one of just 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid. Mall think it is time for that to change.
"We see a net savings in almost all states that have gone to Medicaid expansion," Mall said. "Plus, we are one of the only states in our region that has not expanded it. So we're telling corporations, we're telling our workforce that we just don't care about that."
Thompson is staunchly opposed, and said it would hurt Kansans.
"Medicaid expansion is an extension of Obamacare. You're going to see the cost go up," Thompson said. "There's only a finite number of doctors who accept Medicaid, so you're going to increase the wait list, you're going to increase the cost, and, in fact, kick those people off."
Listen to the rest of what the candidates had to say on issues including housing costs, medical marijuana, and the Chiefs and Royals, on the full episode of Up To Date.
You can read about the Kansas Senate District 10 election, along with every other race in the area, on KCUR's KC Voter Guide.
