Derek Schmidt spelled out Thursday why voters should choose him over his opponent, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, in the upcoming Nov. 8 general election.
Schmidt, an Independence native and the Republican nominee, spoke to a group of about 40 at the Iola Community Theatre Warehouse during the lunch hour.
Schmidt pointed to three issues he hears about most frequently on the campaign trail: inflation, education and public safety.
“One of the things that has become apparent to me is that there’s a real concern among a lot of Kansas about the direction that our country has right now,” Schmidt said. “I hear it from a much wider swath of people than I’ve ever heard it from before.”
The largest concerns center on the rising cost of living.
“These are the worst numbers on inflation we’ve had in 40 years,” Schmidt noted. “Most folks haven’t really dealt with that before, unless you were alive in the 70s and early 80s, so it’s a new, difficult experience for many folks.”
Accordingly, state spending is up dramatically, Schmidt continued, as much as 35% when counting federal dollars sent to state governments in the aftermath of the pandemic.
But even without the federal monies, state spending has risen between 25% and 30% over the past four years.
“You can do that if you’re growing in a commensurate manner, but the challenge is our population in this state is largely flat, and has been for a long time.”
Population numbers even declined slightly in 2021, he added.
“That’s the wrong direction.”
And the state’s labor force has shrunk even more, Schmidt continued.
“It’s true the unemployment rate is low, but the reason the rate is so low… is there are so many fewer people in the workforce seeking jobs.”
That, in turn, leads to hiring difficulties.
“We have some real challenges, and that all goes into the basket,” Schmidt said.
KELLY’S DECISION to close schools in the spring of 2020 — the first state in the country to do so — has affected the quality of education dramatically, Schmidt noted.
