TOPEKA — Democratic candidate Joshua Svaty has picked a former Army helicopter pilot and current local school board member as his running mate in the Kansas governor’s race.

Svaty introduced Katrina Lewison, of Manhattan, as his choice for lieutenant governor Wednesday as he kicked off a two-day, 11-city tour at the Statehouse.

Lewison served in the Army for 15 years and rose to the rank of major. She led a helicopter platoon in Iraq and an aviation company in South Korea.

She is a director of a company providing communications software to local governments and was elected to Manhattan’s school board last year.

Svaty is the first major Democratic candidate to name a running mate. The other two are state Sen. Laura Kelly of Topeka and former Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer.