Kansas state Rep. Laura Williams, a Republican, ran against Democratic state Rep. Brandon Woodard for a seat in the Kansas House back in 2020.
Woodard won that race, but Williams would go on to win the seat after redistricting pushed Woodard to another district. Today, they work together in the Kansas Legislature on an array of issues.
Woodard and Williams will be speaking Wednesday about the art of bipartisan consensus building as part of a panel at the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas. Joni Wickham, who once served as chief of staff to Kansas City Mayor Sly James, will moderate.
Williams and Woodard told KCUR's Up To Date that many members of the legislature make an effort to work across the aisle — and they even agree more often than you'd think.
"I think we do work well together at the end of the day," Woodard said. "And I hope that people can realize that, while Laura and I vote differently on certain social issues, we actually vote together on about 80% plus of issues."
- Joni Wickham, Dole Fellow at the Dole Institute of Politics
- Kansas state Rep. Laura Williams, Johnson County Republican
- Kansas state Rep. Brandon Woodard, Johnson County Democrat
Bipartisan Consensus Building: Making Public Policy Work for Everyone, 4 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 8 at the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, 2350 Petefish Drive, Lawrence, Kansas 66045.
