photo by: Contributed/Brandon Holland

Brandon Holland filed for election to the Kansas House of Representatives on Friday, April 24, 2020.

Brandon Holland, son of Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City, filed Friday to run for a seat in the Kansas House of Representatives.

Holland, 31, is seeking election as a Democrat to the 10th District seat currently held by Rep. Eileen Horn, D-Lawrence. Horn, who began serving in 2017 after being appointed to the seat over Brandon Holland, announced Friday that she wouldn’t seek another term.

Holland has lived in the 10th District since 1993 and works as a manager at a small liquor store in Lawrence, he said. He graduated from both Lawrence High School and the University of Kansas. His priorities, if elected, are to recover from financial burdens caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, to advocate for state Medicaid expansion, to fully fund the state’s education system and to make mental health services more accessible.

“I’m incredibly concerned about the health and financial well-being of Kansas wage earners, who’ve been struggling for years since the Great Recession and with the Legislature’s refusal to expand Medicaid,” Holland said in a news release. “Now with the coronavirus pandemic, life is going to get harder for us all. We need to ensure that working people have access to quality medical care.”

Horn said her decision to not seek another term was one of the hardest of her career. Without citing a specific reason for not running, she said it had been an honor to serve her constituents at the Statehouse and that she intended to continue public service.

“I’m not done with public service. It’s in my blood,” she said in a release. “But I’m taking a break from the partisan politics in Topeka, and doubling down on the work I can do locally, especially to strengthen local food systems.”

Candidates have until June 1 to file for the 2020 election. Currently, Holland is the only candidate registered to run for the 10th District seat, which covers portions of Lawrence and Baldwin City.