photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

The Kansas Statehouse in Topeka is pictured on Dec. 20, 2023.

The race to become the Democratic nominee to represent large parts of Lawrence in the Kansas Senate has a high-stakes element to it — one incumbent legislator is guaranteed to lose.

That’s because two sitting legislators are running for Kansas Senate District No. 2, which covers nearly all of Lawrence except for portions of far west Lawrence and northwest Lawrence.

Sen. Marci Francisco is the incumbent in the district, and has served in the Kansas Legislature since 2005. Her challenger is Rep. Christina Haswood, who since 2020 has represented Kansas House District No. 10, which includes large parts of Lawrence and southern Douglas County.

Haswood decided not to seek reelection to the Kansas House, and instead filed for the Kansas Senate seat, setting up the primary battle with Francisco.

Here’s a look at each of the two Democratic candidates. The winner is expected to face Lawrence resident David Miller in the general election. Miller is the lone Republican to file for the Senate seat.

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.

In the Kansas Legislature, Francisco said she has gained a reputation on both sides of the political aisle for “reading bills, understanding the intent, and suggesting changes to improve the wording of legislation and the outcome.”

“Listening to what other legislators are asking, and focusing on the details of the bills and not the personalities, I have offered amendments to improve bills … Working in these ways with others has helped me build relationships based on trust,” Francisco told the Journal-World.

In a response to a Journal-World questionnaire, Francisco listed three issues she’ll work the hardest to support in the Legislature:

• Protecting women’s reproductive health care, including abortion care, IVF and contraception. “I will continue to push legislation I introduced to protect reproductive health care and be working to reverse the disturbing trend in maternal health outcomes for women of color,” Francisco said.

• Fair, progressive tax policy. Francisco said she has been supportive of eliminating the state sales tax on food and eliminating the state income tax on Social Security, both of which have become law. Now, she said she wants to tackle legislation that will reduce increases in property taxes.

• Energy and environmental concerns. Francisco touted her efforts to increase funding for the State Water Plan by $5 million per year. She said she now wants to ensure proper oversight of those expenditures is in place. Additionally, she wants to see the adoption of a statewide energy plan and and a statewide energy efficiency building code.

photo by: Contributed/Christina Haswood

Kansas Rep. Christina Haswood announced her intention to run for the Kansas Senate in District 2 Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024.

Christina Haswood

On any given day, you can find Haswood working as an environmental consultant for Native American tribal nations or picking up odd jobs through Instacart and other such “gig work” to help pay the bills, she said.

“My lived experiences are shared by so many Kansans, but are missing in the Kansas Senate,” Haswood told the Journal-World. “I am a renter of an apartment. I work multiple jobs just to try to make ends meet. I have student loan debt. These circumstances are not unique — thousands of Kansans across our state are in the same situation as me — but we do not have a state senator who holds all these lived experiences while shaping our state policies.”

Haswood, who was raised in Lawrence, is one of the younger members of the Kansas Legislature. She began serving in the Legislature at about the same time she completed her masters in public health administration from the University of Kansas Medical Center.

Haswood, who is Native American, also has undergraduate degrees from Haskell Indian Nations University and Arizona State, both related to public health. Haswood has expertise in several health issues related to Native American populations, including suicide prevention for Native American youth, and the impact vaping has on young adult Native Americans.

In a response to a Journal-World questionnaire, Haswood listed three issues she’ll work the hardest to support in the Legislature:

• Medicaid expansion. Haswood credits this issue for getting her “fired up about Kansas politics.” She said the state’s refusal to work with the federal government to expand the health insurance program is wrong. “Not only are we paying for other states’ expanded Medicaid programs, but also knowing the amount of Kansans it could help — estimated around 150,000 — it is irresponsible that extremists in the legislature continue to block this commonsense policy.”

• Protecting and improving public schools. Haswood said she has voted to fully fund public schools every year that she has been in office. She said she also will continue to support increases for special education funding “so that our schools aren’t effectively cutting operating budgets in order to fulfill their obligations to these vulnerable students.”

• Supporting small and local businesses. She said the economy needs to give equitable chances to women, veterans, young adults and members of the BIPOC community who are seeking to start businesses.