A teacher is trying to flip a red seat to blue in a Kansas House district southeast of Wichita.
Rep. Leah Howell, a Derby Republican, is challenged by teacher Kyle Beauchamp. Republicans have won the district in the last five elections.
Election day is Nov. 5, Oct. 15 is the last day to register to vote and early voting starts Oct. 16. You can find your polling place and the races you vote in here.
Who are the candidates in Kansas House District 82?
Democrat Kyle Beauchamp
Beauchamp is a middle school science teacher. He spent most of his eight-year teaching career as a high school physics teacher. He has a degree in education from Emporia State University.
Beauchamp hasn’t just taught, he’s also driven semi trucks and worked in warehouses and in retail. He and his wife have one child, a second grader in Derby.
“I am passionate about many things, but expert only in a few of those,” he said. “These include transportation and mobility; public health and safety; and climate and environment. So I would write my own bills in these areas, and take my cue from other experts in others.”
Beauchamp is endorsed by the Kansas branch of the AFL-CIO, the Kansas National Education Association and Game On for Kansas Schools.
His campaign website is here.
Republican Leah Howell (Incumbent)
Howell started in the Kansas Legislature in 2022. She’s the vice chair of the Welfare Reform committee and a member of the Child Welfare and Foster Care, Elections, Insurance and Federal and State Affairs committees. She’s lived in Derby since 1998 and raised five children.
Howell has volunteered with kids, the state Republican party and Republican women’s groups.
She’s endorsed by the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, NFIB-Kansas, the Kansas Farm Bureau, Kansas Livestock Association, Kansas Family Voice, Kansans for Life and the Kansas Rifle Association.
Her campaign website is here.
Both candidates were asked the same questions about their priorities for office and how they would vote on certain issues. Howell didn’t respond to the election guide. Her answers are from her voting history, campaign website and Facebook page.
If elected, which of these politicians would you most closely resemble?
Options include: Joe Biden, Sharice Davids, Bob Dole, Nancy Kassebaum, Laura Kelly, Roger Marshall, Jerry Moran, Donald Trump or someone else.
Beauchamp: I took a quiz on ActiVote where I most closely matched with Jill Stein. Others to whom I landed near include Bernie Sanders and Joe Manchin.
Howell: Howell didn’t respond to the voter guide.
If you could pass any bill, what would it be and why?
Beauchamp: If I could pass any bill, elections would move from First Past The Post (FPTP) to Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). I am also fond of Condorcet methods and Borda counts. Almost anything would be better than FPTP, though, and I feel that IRV is a very obvious next step in refining the process of democratic input for elections and applicable ballot measures.
A close second would be advancement of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
However, I cannot pass any bill, and so I am focused on what can be done in the near term, like expanding Medicaid.
Howell: Howell sponsored the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. This law requires doctors to give medical care to babies delivered alive after an abortion. Supporters pushed for this law because they believe medical providers leave children to die if they survive an abortion. It is a felony for doctors to not provide care to these infants.
How would you have voted on the following items? You can vote yes, no or pass.
The Aug. 2, 2022, constitutional amendment on abortion
Voting no meant the state constitution would continue to protect the right to abortion. Voting yes would have meant it can be regulated or banned.
Beauchamp: No. Restrictive legislation against some kinds of abortions will unnecessarily invade the privacy of women’s health. A woman’s health care decisions are for her to make alone with input from her doctor, not a politician.
Those who seek lower abortion rates in the state or country should pursue those ends by means of a more robust social safety net, education, access to contraceptives, sex education, decreased poverty rates, and other improvements to people’s lives that have proven elsewhere to decrease the number of abortions performed.
Howell: Yes. Howell is endorsed by anti-abortion group Kansans for Life.
Flat tax on income
A flat tax on income was packaged with property tax cuts and eliminating Social Security income tax. Democrats and Republicans agreed on other parts of the plan, but were at odds over a flat tax. A single rate on income didn’t pass this year.
Beauchamp: No. Regressive. Shifts tax burden downwards. Higher income individuals can afford to pay a higher percentage towards taxes.
Howell: Yes. Howell supported every major tax cut plan in 2024 and a flat tax plan from 2023. She said on Facebook that Kansans need tax relief. “When the legislature passed a single rate tax plan earlier this year, the Governor vetoed it and said she couldn’t support that. (The Legislature) came back with a bipartisan compromise with two tax rates. She vetoed again and said it was too expensive. This time (the Legislature) compromised even more and changed the amount of the tax cuts, so Kansans will keep LESS $$$$ in their pockets … How is one governor wiser than 133 bipartisan legislators working together on a compromise plan?”
Banning transgender women from women’s sports
Voting yes would mean athletes have to play the sport based on their gender assigned at birth. This bill was vetoed but the veto was overridden in 2022.
Beauchamp: No. If they want to compete as women, let them. The inclusion of all is more important than the precise gatekeeping being sought in this bill by those who would invade the privacy of and burden athletes with a heavy-handed solution to address a trivial problem/non-issue.
Howell: Yes. Howell didn’t respond to the voter guide, but lawmakers who supported the law said men have an advantage over women and using the gender at birth is the fairest system. Howell voted for multiple versions of this bill.
Banning gender-affirming care for trans youth
Voting yes means children under 18 can’t get puberty blockers, hormone treatment, and in rare cases gender-reassignment surgery. This bill narrowly failed this year and is expected to come up again in 2025.
Beauchamp: No. I think this bill is too restrictive of choices that should be made by individuals and their families and doctors around them.
Howell: Yes. Howell didn’t respond to the voter guide, but lawmakers who supported the bill said children may not understand the true consequences of this procedure. Howell supported multiple versions of this bill, including one that allows doctors to be sued for doing gender reassignment surgery.
Chiefs and Royals stadium-financing bill
This bill didn’t spend any taxpayer money to attract the teams, but it did set aside sales tax dollars from future stadium districts to pay off bonds. This law passed by a comfortable margin, and voting yes opens the door to the Chiefs and Royals in Kansas.
Beauchamp: Yes. As worded, this bill can hardly be objectionable.
Howell: Yes. Howell didn’t respond to the voting guide, but legislators who supported the law said bringing a professional sports team to Kansas is a major economic development project that would pay for itself.
APEX (Attracting Powerful Economic Expansion)
This bill had billions in tax incentives to bring a Panasonic battery plant to De Soto, Kansas. As it was being passed, lawmakers were not told which company would be coming, but were told the bill is necessary to attract large businesses. Voting yes approved a massive tax incentive plan for companies.
Beauchamp: Pass. Need further study. Unsure. I’d like to hear arguments on both sides to make up my mind.
Howell: Yes. Lots of good reasons to vote no. Plenty of solid reasons to vote yes … Ultimately for me, it came down to Kansas needs good jobs, we need to attract more people to live, work and play here in our great state. Sometimes we have to make less idealistic but practical votes in order to meet our ultimate goals. We worked hard to have good safeguards included in the bill. I’m excited for our future here in Kansas.
Mail ballot grace period
Currently, any mail ballot in Kansas can arrive three days after Election Day and still be counted if it was postmarked on or before Election Day. Voting yes would eliminate that grace period.
Beauchamp: No. In the off chance that such ballots can make/break polling results, they should be counted if received within the grace period.
Howell: Yes. While Kansas is rated one of the best states for election security in the country, the USPS will not guarantee a postmark on all mail ballots and not all USPS postmarks contain a date and time stamp. Allowing mail-in ballots that currently arrive after 7 p.m. on Election Day gives mail ballot voters no guarantee that their ballot will be counted due to this ambiguity. The only way to ensure both mail ballot voters and in person voters are held to the same standard (of turning in or being in line) to vote by 7 p.m. on Election Day is to remove the current 3-day mail ballot extension.
A bill loosening child care regulations
It would expand allowed child-to-staff ratios and allow teenagers to work at these facilities. Voting yes approves the loosened restrictions. Learn more about this bill here.
Beauchamp: No. Just as in education, the problem of unmatched supply and demand should not be solved by lowering standards.
Howell: Yes. Howell didn’t respond to the voting guide, but lawmakers who supported the bill said stripping away burdensome regulations will let businesses grow.
The Parents’ Bill of Rights
This bill lets parents pull their kids out of classes if they are being taught objectionable material. Republicans say it is up to parents to determine what their children should be learning. Democrats say this bill addresses a problem that doesn’t exist.
Beauchamp: No.
Howell: Yes. Howell didn’t respond to the voter guide, but lawmakers who support the bill said parents should know if a school’s curriculum was inappropriate.
