With debates between Kansas gubernatorial candidates right around the corner, we’re providing an overview of the Sunflower Party and Free State Party platforms and the issues at hand in the upcoming election.
Sunflower Party candidates Sebastian Uriarte and Isabella Southwick have provided policy stances on the issues of education, the environment, safety, and healthcare. The Sunflower Party believes in building the knowledge of students and supports base state funding following the student and amending the Kansas Constitution to give the Legislature exclusive authority in deciding what constitutes adequate funding for our public schools. The party also backs Medicare for Kansans; they support the Affordable Care Act and believe the Medicaid-expansion component of the ACA should be enacted here in our state. Through supporting the work of law enforcement across the state to create safe neighborhoods, protect Kansans from sexual offenders, and provide freedom from abuse, the Sunflower Party believes together, we can build safer communities. The party believes that the health of Kansas is intertwined with the quality of our air, water, and soil; climate change currently poses a very real danger to our state’s residence and economy. Sunflower candidates support action to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases through the use of alternative fuels and increased energy conservation and efficiency in order to protect the environment.
The Free State Party platform also centers around the issues of education, the environment, crime, and healthcare, and is championed by candidates Brandon Boyce and Jack Griswold. The party believes in strengthening public education through adequate and equitable funding for K-12 public education required by the Kansas Constitution and ending the tax credit program for corporations and individual which funds scholarships for private K-12 students. This issue is of chief priority to the party. The Free State Party believes that because we don’t know to what extent humans are responsible for changing the climate, Kansas leaders should not be allowed to arbitrarily constraint the use of our natural resources. Both Boyce and Griswold support Kansas energy and agriculture and believe that carbon dioxide should not be declared a pollutant nor used as an excuse to deny the construction of new power plants in Kansas. The party will tackle criminal justice reform: shifting to treatment, rehabilitation, and education in hopes to lower recidivism rates. They support dignity and safety to all offenders during incarceration. The Free State Party opposes the Affordable Care Act and the extension of Medicare in Kansas. They believe Kansas should support enlarging health providers, including primary care physicians, telemedicine, and free clinics – affording Kansans a choice in healthcare.
Further information regarding party platforms can be found on the candidates’ websites.