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The House of Representatives chamber of the Kansas Statehouse is pictured July 23, 2014 in Topeka.

As the Aug. 7 primary elections in Kansas draw near, much of the advertising money and media attention will be focused on races for governor, congressional seats and other statewide offices.

But there are other primary races further down the ballot that are also important for the future of state government in Kansas. All 125 seats in the Kansas House of Representatives are up for election this year, and there are contested primary races in four of those districts that include portions of Lawrence and Douglas County.

In the 42nd District, which includes portions of eastern Douglas County, including Eudora, as well as part of Leavenworth County, there is a Republican primary between first-term incumbent Rep. Jim Karleskint and challenger Lance Neelly, both of Tonganoxie.

In the 45th District, which includes portions of west Lawrence, Lecompton and rural western Douglas County, 12-term incumbent Rep. Tom Sloan is retiring. There are contested primaries on both sides, and Democrats see that district as one that is ripe for them to pick up.

And in the 46th District, which includes central and eastern Lawrence and the University of Kansas campus, two-term incumbent Rep. Dennis “Boog” Highberger faces a challenge from University of Kansas student Benjamin Ferlo.

42nd District

Rep. Jim Karleskint won his first term in the House in 2016 when he defeated then-incumbent Rep. Connie O’Brien in a GOP primary.

Karleskint, 70, is a former teacher, school administrator and college professor who taught school finance at the graduate level at Baker University. He was instrumental in helping craft the latest school finance formula, which the Kansas Supreme Court recently found is still inadequate, and he supported reversing former Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax policies as a way of generating revenue to pay for that plan.

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Rep. Jim Karleskint

But Karleskint is also a conservative on issues like abortion and gun rights. As a result, he has endorsements from groups as divergent as the centrist Mainstream Coalition and the anti-abortion group Kansans for Life.

Because of his 2017 votes on tax policy, Karleskint has drawn opposition from conservative groups such as Americans for Prosperity, which he says has sent out postcards criticizing him, and the Kansas Chamber, whose political action committee has endorsed his opponent, Lance Neelly.

photo by: Peter Hancock

Lance Neelly

Neelly, 51, works in the corrections and security industry. He said at a recent candidate forum in Lawrence that he, too, is against abortion and solidly in favor of Second Amendment rights. But he differs from Karleskint in that he opposes the 2017 tax overhaul and he favors reduced state spending.

Neelly has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association and the Kansas Farm Bureau.

45th District

Sloan’s retirement has opened up a seat that has been leaning Democratic in recent years and that Republicans want badly to retain.

On the Democratic side, longtime Lawrence City Commissioner and former Mayor Mike Amyx, 65, is looking to make a move from nonpartisan local government to partisan state government.

photo by: Peter Hancock

Mike Amyx

Also in the race is Aidan Loveland Koster, 38, of Lecompton, a corporate administrator, and Lawrence resident Steven “X.” Davis, 29, who ran unsuccessfully in the 44th District against Rep. Barbara Ballard in 2016.

photo by: Peter Hancock

Aidan Loveland Koster

photo by: Peter Hancock

Steven “X.” Davis

During a candidate forum in Lawrence, all three Democrats expressed largely similar views on major issues. They support expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. They support abortion rights and they would oppose a constitutional amendment limiting the authority of courts to review the adequacy of public school funding.

Amyx has been endorsed by the Mainstream Coalition. Davis and Koster have both been endorsed by Equality Kansas, an LGBT rights advocacy group.

On the Republican side, Cynthia Smith, 59, an attorney who has represented Kansas City Power and Light and has worked for a number of child welfare agencies, faces Ronald Thacker, 50, a retired Navy officer. Both are from Lawrence.

photo by: Peter Hancock

Cynthia Smith

photo by: Peter Hancock

Ronald Thacker

That race is a classic match-up between moderate and conservative Republicans. Smith, a moderate, has said she wants to follow in Sloan’s footsteps. She favors expanding Medicaid and also supports Second Amendment rights. Thacker, the conservative, opposes expanding Medicaid and has said he thinks the Kansas Supreme Court overstepped its bounds when it ruled that funding levels for public schools were constitutionally inadequate.

Thacker has been endorsed by Kansans for Life.

46th District

Two-term incumbent Rep. Boog Highberger faces a Democratic primary challenge this year from University of Kansas student Benjamin Ferlo.

Highberger, 58, a Lawrence attorney, is a former city commissioner and former mayor. He currently serves as the ranking Democrat on the House Juvenile Justice and Corrections Committee. He voted in favor of repealing the Brownback tax policies of 2012 and supported the most recent school finance bill.

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Rep. Dennis “Boog” Highberger, of Lawrence

Ferlo, 18, grew up in southeast Kansas and the Kansas City area, according to his campaign website. Since enrolling at KU, he has been active in the KU Young Democrats organization. Ferlo has said he is running because he thinks young people are often missing from political debate in Kansas and because he thinks Highberger has not been aggressive enough in advocating for progressive causes.

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Benjamin Ferlo