Sandy Spidel Neumann said her love of country and constant drive for optimization led her to run for the U.S. Senate in Kansas.
Spidel Neumann recently retired from a career in financial services, where she said her results speak for themselves.
“My leadership over the last 40 years, I mean, the results that I delivered were things that were reported to Wall Street quarterly. You either hit your numbers or you didn't,” Spidel Neumann said. “You actually had to work within a budget.”
Eleven Democrats are running in the Aug. 4 primary election, with the winner taking on Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall in the November general election.
Spidel Neumann describes herself as middle-of-the-road, with career experience that could better appeal to Republican voters compared to her primary challengers — among them a Biden appointee.
“Is that going to be someone who's palatable to a Republican voter? It may be a road too far,” Spidel Neumann said. “Someone in a Fortune 250 financial services firm, that's palatable, right?”
“It doesn't matter what party people are from, it matters where they're coming from and what you can do for them,” Spidel Neumann continued.
KCUR's Up To Date is reaching out to all the U.S. Senate candidates in Kansas ahead of the election, and has also offered an interview to Marshall. The state hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1932.
Many Americans have been met with higher healthcare premiums following the expiration of the Affordable Care Act enhanced subsidies and changes to Medicaid. Spidel Neumann said she wants to reverse the tax credits, restore Medicaid funding and take a data informed approach improving the ACA.
“We've got 15 years worth of data in the ACA, we can see what's working and what's not working,” she said. “I want to work toward a Medicare For All system, but it's not just flipping a switch.”
Kansas has more rural hospitals at immediate risk of closing than any other state, KCUR has reported.
Hospitals are important for health and the economic viability of small towns. Spidel Neumann said it’s important to restore Medicaid funding and leverage the models of successful small hospitals.
Spidel Neumann said she’s a proponent of “responsible” student-loan relief, particularly for education and healthcare career paths.
The U.S. is facing a more than trillion dollar deficit, Spidel Neumann said the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency was a good idea in theory, but was recklessly implemented.
“You took a chainsaw to a situation you needed a scalpel for,” she said.
Spidel Neumann said she wants to create a more equitable tax formula, remove the income cap on Social Security and better invest in modern technology, like drones, in order to cut defense spending.
“It’s optimizing it, and it’s driving efficiencies,” Spidel Neumann said. “You don't just throw money at a situation, you look at how to best solve the problem, and then you use money as you need to be able to solve that problem in an efficient way."
- Sandy Spidel Neumann, Kansas Democratic primary candidate for U.S. Senate
