The COVID-19 pandemic did more than essentially shut down much of the nation’s economic activity this spring.
It also changed Kent Thompson’s political future.
Thompson, who has represented Kansas’s Ninth District in the Kansas House since 2013, had intended to relinquish his seat in Topeka at the conclusion of this year’s session.
But then the coronavirus began spreading across the country, the economic effects of which are still reverberating.
“If we had not had this pandemic, I would not have filed,” he said. “It’s just not a good time to change the seat. There are going to be a lot of tough decisions to make in Topeka the next couple of years.”
With the state’s revenues down
roughly $1 billion because of COVID this year, budget cuts are a near certainty, he noted.
“Where are they going to make those cuts?” Thompson asked. “I don’t want those cuts in my Ninth District.”
In order to be a part of that decision-making process, Thompson must curry favor with Ninth District Republicans in the Aug. 4 primary election. He is being faced by Armando Hernandez, a computer service technician from Chanute. The winner will face Alana Cloutier, Democrat, in the November general election.
THOMPSON’S career in elective politics has spanned nearly 20 years, the first 12 as an Allen County commissioner, and the past seven in the Kansas House. He even spent a year as House Majority Whip — whose job is to garner support among his fellow House members for specific pieces of legislation — in 2019.
It’s Thompson’s adherence to basic principles — treat others as you’d like to be treated — that has served him well, he said.
“I don’t look at how people vote and judge them,” he said. “I don’t look at what their opinion on policy is. What I care about is the quality of the person. Most of the time we’re going to get along on the good stuff. If something on the House floor makes sense to me, it probably makes sense to a lot of people with common sense.”
He rejects the notion that partisanship in Topeka has grown “toxic.”
“Toxic is a word that’s not appropriate,” he said. “Is there tension? Yeah.”
And it’s not always between Republicans and Democrats.
