Dan Glickman, a former congressman from Wichita, and Kathleen Sebelius, a former governor and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, were the keynote speakers Saturday night at the Kansas Democratic Party's state convention in Topeka.

Topeka ? Former Congressman Dan Glickman and former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius acknowledged that the Kansas Democratic Party is in a weak position in 2016.

But they were still optimistic, telling a banquet crowd at the party’s state convention Saturday night in Topeka that there is reason to be hopeful about the future.

“This state now has, for example, a very, very heavy Republican dominance in the Legislature,” Glickman said. “We don’t have one statewide elected Democrat. We don’t have one statewide elected federal official. We don’t have one congressional federal official. So we’ve got nowhere to go but up, folks.”

“There’s no question that Kansas Democrats are in some tough times,” Sebelius said. “This is a hard patch, and we are all watching a state that we love being torn apart, piece at a time, with some values that I don’t think are Kansas values.”

Dan Glickman, a former congressman from Wichita, and Kathleen Sebelius, a former governor and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, were the keynote speakers Saturday night at the Kansas Democratic Party's state convention in Topeka.

Glickman and Sebelius were the keynote speakers Saturday night at the state party’s annual convention, where the focus at times alternated between honoring the party elders of the past when Democrats were more competitive, criticizing Gov. Sam Brownback and the current GOP leaders in the Legislature, and gearing up for March 5’s presidential caucuses and the 2016 general elections to follow in November.

Glickman first ran for Congress 40 years ago this year, in 1976, a year when Democrats held a majority in the Kansas House, and future Gov. John Carlin, who was also in attendance Saturday, was elected Speaker of the House.

Glickman held the 4th District seat until the 1994 elections, a year remembered as the “Gingrich revolution,” when conservative Republicans took control of the House and elected Georgia Rep. Newt Gingrich as the new Speaker. That was the year that Brownback, who had previously served as Kansas Secretary of Agriculture, was first elected to the 2nd District seat from Topeka, defeating Carlin in that open race.

In fact, the only Kansas Democrat to win a statewide race that year was Sebelius, who won her race to become the state’s first Democratic Insurance Commissioner.

Sebelius recalled that year with some hesitation, but also with some optimism.

“In 1994, we got wiped out as Kansas Democrats. Lost the governor’s office. Lost two congressional seats. Lost legislative seats. I won, and it was a very weird election night, because I periodically went to people and said, ‘woo-hoo … oh, sorry. Really sorry.’ Because it was a very sad event.”

But she went on to say that Democrats rebounded after those losses, rebuilding the party’s infrastructure, and recovering some of the seats it had lost in the Legislature and, for a time, two of the seats in Congress.

“That’s where we are now, and I think there’s every reason to be optimistic,” she said.

Sebelius noted that within the past year, the so-called “millennial generation” — people born between the early 1980s and early 2000s — became the largest age group within the U.S. population, and potentially the largest voting bloc.

“They are known to be the most tolerant, the most well-educated, the most inclusive generation that we’ve ever had in this country,” she said. “Those are our values, folks. That’s what makes people Democrats.”

Glickman, however, said there both political parties face a challenge in trying to mobilize the millennial generation.

“Most young people want to serve,” he said. “Very few want to serve in politics.”

“We Democrats have to realize that we have to also get with the act, get modern, have messages that resonate with people, particularly young people who then can see that their government is a powerful source for good in the future,” he said.

Sebelius said she was optimistic that Democrats could attract the youth vote.

“I’m not sure you can be a Democrat in Kansas and not be an optimist,” she said.