Sawyer Makes Stop In Ulysses

Lt. Governor candidate Katie Sawyer was in Ulysses last week to visit with community leaders prior to election day. As of press time, the voters still had time to cast their ballots, so it was unknown whether or not Sawyer and Derek Schmidt, candidate for governor, had prevailed. We will have election results in next week's edition of the Ulysses News.

Kansas resident Katie Sawyer says she saw a need for change which prompted her to enter politics. Sawyer was in Ulysses recently prior to visit with a few community leaders.

“I was born and raised in the McPherson (Kansas) area,” Sawyer said. “My husband is a fourth generation farmer and rancher. We are members of the Kansas Farm Bureau and through that we saw a need for change in our congressional leadership. I got to know Senator Roger Marshal - he was first elected in 2017 - and I wanted to work for him. I’ve been working with him ever since.”

Sawyer has served the past almost six years as director of all in-state operations and constituent services for Marshall.  She is running on the Republican ticket for Lieutenant Governor with Governor running mate Derek Schmidt.

“Derek and I are focusing on a few different topics or issues,” Sawyer said. “One is the growth and prosperity of our communities - especially our rural communities, and that includes making sure our agriculture and energy industries are healthy. We are focusing on growing our states economy and doing that for both communities large and small. We want to keep our three largest industries - agriculture, oil and natural gas, and our manufacturing sector - healthy and growing.”

Sawyer says she and Schmidt are also concerned about schools.

“We talk about our schools and the need to maintain full funding for them,” she said. “We also want to maintain the safety of our schools and make sure that school outcomes are what we want them to be.”

The pair, according to Sawyer, have conservative values. Something she doesn’t believe aligns with Governor Laura Kelly.

“We have a governor that we don’t believe aligns with the values of most Kansans and that shows through in some of the legislation that she has vetoed including the fairness in women’s sports act,” Sawyer said. “(And) her kind of dismissal of the concerns of parents regarding what is going on in classrooms. Most recently, we found out that the Department of Commerce was providing some funding for some drag shows and other types of performances that we don’t believe are probably appropriate for state dollars. It is something we would never allow to be funded under our administration.”

After hearing Schmidt say that is what funds were utilized for, Governor Kelly claimed that is not true.

“That is not true. That state funding did not go for that purpose,” Kelly said recently. “You know, I really don’t know what his (Schmidt’s) motives are. I can’t get into his head. You know, I just know that it wasn’t true.”

In a recent press conference reported by KSN News, Schmidt said a flyer utilized to promote a drag show contained the Kansas Department of Commerce logo in the bottom right corner.

“The promotional materials have varying degrees of connection in terms of using the state’s information, but all claim to have support from the State of Kansas,” he was quoted as saying.

One of the events reportedly took place in Lawrence earlier this year, and another in Wichita in October. 

In a recent email to KSN, Patrick Lowry, a spokesman for the Kansas Department of Commerce, sent the following statement regarding both Wichita drag shows: “Neither the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission (KCAIC) nor the Kansas Department of Commerce sponsored the DADA Ball event that took place October 22 or the Mall Monster Mash event scheduled for October 28.” The Kansas Department of Commerce, according to a report by KSN, is attributing Schmidt’s beliefs to a “mistake.”

“According to the state’s commerce department, the organizer of the DADA ball mistakenly listed KCAIC in association with the event. Neither the KCAIC nor the Kansas Department of Commerce sponsored the October 22 event,” KSN reported.

Sawyer, who stopped in to the Ulysses News office while she was in town, said both she and Schmidt were on the road.

“We are both out,” she said. “Derek and I are out on the road separately right now. We are covering 90 counties in the two weeks leading up to the election. It is important that we get out and make stops in communities to talk to folks. To listen to them. And, make sure we are connecting with all Kansans in all parts of the state.”

While in Ulysses, Sawyer stopped to see community leaders.

“While in Ulysses, I’m stopping to see Cat Moyer at the broadband office. We will also stop to see the Chamber folks and a few others in town,” she said. “We want to see those community leaders who understand what is happening in Ulysses. What needs to be done in Ulysses and who the different industries are we can hopefully be helpful to moving forward.”

Sawyer and her husband, Derek, have two boys, ages six and nine. If she is elected, she will be the youngest Republican lieutenant governor serving in America. Prior to working for Marshall, Sawyer was a teacher at McPherson College, managing editor of the McPherson Sentinel and a reporter at the Pittsburg Morning Sun. A graduate of PSU, Sawyer says she is a “strong believer in traditional Kansas values and that she wants every Kansan to have the opportunities she and her family have been afforded to build a wonderful life here in the greatest state in America.”