Neither candidate in the race for Kansas Senate District No. 2 will need directions to the Statehouse.

Both have served there, although on different sides of the aisle and in different decades.

Democrat Marci Francisco and Republican David Miller are vying for the seat in Senate District 2, which covers nearly all of Lawrence, except for portions of far west Lawrence and portions of northwest Lawrence.

Francisco is the incumbent, and she’s held the seat since 2005, while challenger Miller won five terms in the Kansas House of Representatives in the 1980s, and went on to become the chair of the state’s Republican Party in the 1990s.

Here’s a look at each of the two candidates:

photo by: Submitted

Marci Francisco

Marci Francisco

Francisco knows all about winning elections in Lawrence. She began her elected career in 1979 by winning a seat on the Lawrence City Commission, and went on to serve as mayor from 1981 to 1983.

A desire to improve Lawrence neighborhoods was a driving force in those campaigns, and it fit well with her professional background, she said. She has degrees from KU in environmental design and in architecture. She ended up working for the university for 35 years in offices related to facilities planning and sustainability.

Now retired, Francisco and her husband, Joe Bickford, have renovated multiple houses in the East Lawrence and Oread neighborhoods to either sell or rent. Francisco is a founding board member of the Oread Neighborhood Association and the Lawrence Preservation Alliance, in addition to having served on several city-appointed boards.

In response to a questionnaire from the Journal-World, Francisco stated her position on the following topics:

• Medicaid expansion. Francisco said she “strongly supports,” the expansion of the health insurance program for people in financial need.

“Kansas, by remaining one of 10 states still to yet enact expansion and not make use of the almost $6 billion in federal funds available, has limited opportunities for care and has increased the cost of health insurance costs for many,” Francisco told the Journal-World “It is especially concerning for those caught in the gap – making too much to qualify for regular Medicaid, not enough to qualify for insurance on the exchange, and work for small businesses who are not required to provide employer-sponsored health insurance.”

Francisco said passage of Medicaid expansion also would greatly help the finances of many Kansas hospitals that currently are seeing high numbers of uninsured patients. Francisco contends Democrats have done much to meet the demands of the Republican-controlled Legislature on the issue, including agreeing to some work requirements in order for people to be eligible for Medicaid.

“Republican leadership should respond to the concerns of the majority of Kansans who support expansion, rather than work against them,” Francisco said.

• On the issue of abortion and what role the state should play in regulating it, Francisco said she has a 100% voting record in protecting the rights and access to abortion care in the state. She said voters sent a strong message in the August 2022 elections by overwhelmingly approving a ballot question that affirmed a state constitutional right to abortion and “bodily autonomy.”

Francisco, though, said that ballot issue didn’t remove the state’s role in the issue.

“The state has responsibility to regulate healthcare clinics and providers to ensure safe, clean facilities and educated providers but should not inject ideology or politics into that process,” Francisco said.

If reelected, Francisco said she would again introduce legislation that addresses concerns of unequal treatment for insurance coverage and tax benefits related to abortion care.

• Francisco said she and her opponent have key differences. Among the largest is Miller’s past efforts to place restrictions on a woman’s right to abortion, she said.

“I have always supported reproductive health care,” Francisco said. “In contrast, my opponent is a former Director of the Kansans for Life Political Action Committee, during the time of the Wichita Protests for the Summer of Mercy.”

Francisco also noted that Miller ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination for governor in 1998 — losing to Bill Graves — and campaigned heavily on issues related to restricting abortion. His run for governor came after he led grassroots movements — often successfully — to elect more conservative members to key GOP positions.

“He was also a key player in the campaigns to oust moderate Republican legislators, backing ultra conservatives who follow leadership dictates rather than acting on behalf of constituents in their districts,” Francisco said.

Francisco also argued that it is important for a Democrat to win this election in order to help prevent the Republicans from gaining a supermajority in the Legislature, which would allow the House and Senate to override vetoes from Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat.

“Being a Democrat, I am the one who could help eliminate the current supermajority in the Senate,” she said.

photo by: Submitted

David Miller

David Miller

Miller, now a Lawrence resident, was a longtime member of the Eudora community and built an insurance business there. For more than 30 years, he operated the Miller Agency, selling property, health and life insurance to area residents and businesses.

But as a political science graduate from the University of Kansas, politics was never very far from his mind. He was first elected to the Kansas House of Representatives in 1980 and won reelection in 1982, 1984, 1986, and 1988. While in the Legislature, he was a champion of several fiscally conservative causes, including authoring legislation that required the governor’s budget plan be balanced, meaning expenditures couldn’t exceed expected revenues.

His political career remained consequential after leaving the Kansas Statehouse. He held multiple positions on the executive committee for the Kansas Republican Party, and won two terms as chairman in 1995 and 1997, and also served on the Republican National Committee during that time.

In response to a questionnaire from the Journal-World, Miller stated his position on the following topics:

• Miller said he’s “willing” to support the expansion of Medicaid in Kansas, which he said is an exception to his general belief in limited government. Miller, who continues to sell health insurance, is critical of the Affordable Care Act passed during the Obama administration. But he said that program, though he thinks it is ill-guided, has made Medicaid expansion more necessary.

“It is clear to me now the ACA had one important objective: Make more people more dependent on more government,” Miller said. “Thousands need government financial assistance if they have any chance to have coverage. The result is limited market and exorbitant premiums. This clearly incentives people to politically support the government so they will get the help they need to pay premiums. While I strongly disagree with this result, I know many Kansans are still unable to afford coverage. So, I have concluded such legislation should be enacted.”

Miller said his support of Medicaid expansion is conditioned on a requirement that able-bodied people must be working in order to qualify for the Medicaid program.

• When Miller was chairman of the Kansas Republican Party, he was a champion for laws and candidates who favored restrictions on abortions in the state. Today, Miller said his position on abortion is largely irrelevant in this Senate race. That’s because, he said, the Kansas Supreme Court has “commandeered” the issue through a pair of rulings that have affirmed the right to abortion in the state.

Miller, though, makes it clear that he doesn’t like the result of those rulings. He contends Kansas has become “the late-term abortion destination for this part of the country,” and has criticized state officials for not doing more to report current abortion totals in Kansas.

“I find it curious to see politicians campaigning now as if they can materially affect the issue,” Miller said. “Obviously, the national Democrats want to use the issue to fire up their base. I get that. And frankly pro-life Republicans want to fire up their base. But the simple truth is that in Kansas our Supreme Court has ruled. Under our system that is the final word on laws. So, it is settled. We are the late-term abortion destination.”

• On the issue of differences between the two candidates, Miller said Francisco is much more tightly tied to special interest groups and political action committees. Miller said he is not taking any donations from such groups, and he has criticized Francisco for taking political contributions from out-of-state entities.

Miller also was critical of Francisco’s legislative record. He said that it is lacking in substantive bills that she has authored, and he contends that Francisco’s committee assignments in the Legislature are lacking, considering that she’s such a long-tenured Democratic member of the Senate.

“Why is she not the top Democrat on the powerful budget writing Ways and Means Committee?” Miller asked. “Such a post would be super helpful to KU. We need legislators on the top budget committee to help KU.”