By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
New representation in Congress will be decided by voters in
Kansas’ Second Congressional District on Tuesday.
Incumbent Republican Jake LaTurner decided not to run for a
third term.
The decision surprised Republican Derek Schmidt of
Independence, the former state Attorney General, and motivated him to get in
the race.
“He made the unexpected decision not to seek re-election and
that presented really a choice,” Schmidt tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “I think
our country has some serious challenges. We need serious people who want to get
in and try to fix some things.”
Schmidt says he wants to address inflation, illegal
immigration, and intrusion of big government if elected to Congress.
As for Democrat Nancy Boyda of rural Baldwin City, she decided
to run for the office she once held, because, as she puts it, she couldn’t sit
by and watch what is going on in the country.
“Like health care, like immigration, like the price of
housing. All of that can be addressed by a Congress,” Boyda tells KFEQ/St.
Joseph Post. “The lack of being able to even function in Congress that has
brought our country to this place that we are today.”
Boyda won the second district seat in 2006 and served for one
term. Boyda also served in the Pentagon.
Illegal immigration is a big topic this election, especially
in the race for the White House. It is big in the Second Congressional District
of Kansas race as well.
Boyda says Congress has failed to address illegal immigration,
which she says could have been resolved 16 years ago, when Congress considered bipartisan
immigration legislation.
“The Democrats didn’t want to do this bill to start off,
because they thought it would look like anti-immigrant. And the Republicans said
it’ll look like an amnesty bill,” according to Boyda. “So, both sides dug their
heels in and we’ve done nothing.”
Schmidt says the issue has grown much worse over the years.
“But in the last three-and-a-half years, there have been
nearly three times as many illegal aliens enter the United States as there are
people total in the state of Kansas; three times our state’s population,”
Schmidt asserts. “This is not just more of the same. Something’s different
today.”
Schmidt says he has talked to LaTurner about the office.
“So, he’s been very encouraging in this race,” Schmidt says. “I’m
very optimistic about the outcome, but we’re working hard all the way through Tuesday.”
Boyda feels confident about her chances, though the district
is heavily Republican.
“We’ve actually engaged the voters in a real conversation about
our democracy, instead of just throwing stones at each other,” Boyda says. “And
I think it will make a difference.”
The Second Congressional District of Kansas includes northeast
Kansas. It runs from the Nebraska border to the Oklahoma border with a carve
out for the greater Kansas City area.
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.