Kylie Kilmer, Kansas House District 70
These are the Downballot Diaries – stories of and from some of the people Every State Blue is supporting this cycle.
Every State Blue’s projects crowdfund support for underfunded Democrats running for state legislature – typically in the reddest and most gerrymandered districts in the country. We’re redefining what it means for Democrats to run everywhere.
We support people running hard in the hardest places.
Kylie Kilmer is one of those people. This is her story.
As a teacher of students who are blind and low-vision in Kansas, Kylie Kilmer has come to understand politics on the ground level.
“If there’s one thing that’s underfunded in Kansas, it’s special education,” said Kilmer. “You hear people say that schools have too much money, but ask any special ed teacher, and you don’t see that.”
She’s running for the state House of Representatives to represent people in District 70. She wants to be the voice for special and early education, and for rural, working Kansans. Her choice was made easier when she realized the seat she’s seeking has been unopposed for the last several years.
Policy has long been Kilmer’s happy place.
“I think when I was younger it was funneled more into activism and volunteer work and community service,” she said. “As I’ve gotten older, I have morphed that into sitting on boards and talking about policy. That kind of thing is interesting to me. I can make a meaningful difference without always making the most noise.”
She said she spoke to local protesters recently and applauded them but said that “work gets done around the board table, too.”
Kilmer grew up in Herington in the eastern/central part of the state, in a family not overly burdened with political involvement. She said her father, a retired union railroad worker, registered to vote just this year so he can vote for her, and there’s no question that her mother, a life-long registered Republican, will do the same. In fact, Kilmer is getting plenty of traction among the state GOP.
“I live in Abilene, home of Pres. Eisenhower’s library,” Kilmer said. “It’s easy to connect with people who identify as Eisenhower Republicans or Bob Dole Republicans. They don’t align with the Republican party today.”
In fact, a few supporters from the other side of the aisle asked her to print up “Republican for Kylie Kilmer” so she did.
Collage of images from Kylie Kilmer’s social media feed
Kilmer is proud that 94% of her campaign funds are from individual donors. That’s by design.
“I don’t want to be held to lobbyists and special interest groups,” she said. “I want to be the candidate for working class.”
That includes the rural voters, and while Kilmer understands candidates who focus on the population centers in nine Kansas counties (among them Sedgwick, which includes Wichita, and Wyandotte, home of Kansas City, Kan.), and a Democratic party that might give District 70 up for lost. But Kilmer plans to knock on every door (all 13,000+ of them)
“My race is proving that District 70 is worth spending time in,” she said. “There are a lot of people here who will cross party lines for the right candidate.”
And besides, she said, in a heavily-red district, “I have talked to lots of Republicans, and not a single person has been mean to me. Everybody has been at least Midwest kind, and for most of them, we can agree on some policy.”
Not all Republicans agree with the current administration’s policies are tactics, she said.
“Politics are so divided right now,” Kilmer said, “and more than ever, we need Democrats to step up to the plate and say, ‘This is not okay.’”
Kilmer earned a bachelor’s degree in recreation at Pittsburg State University and a master’s in special education – visual disabilities from Northern Illinois University. She also interned at New York’s Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Adults.
She and her husband, Austin, a disabled Navy veteran who works in law enforcement technology, have three young children and some backyard chickens.
Today, candidates like Kylie are running in what otherwise would have been uncontested districts all across the country. These good neighbors have stepped up for their communities, giving them a voice and a choice in this election, boosting turnout and vote share for Democrats statewide, and making much-needed progress in some of the reddest places.
You can help them. Support Kylie and her fellow Kansas candidates who are running in districts that went uncontested last cycle by clicking here or on the button below. 100% of your contribution goes to the candidates.
Chip In to First In Line Kansas
Learn more about Every State Blue and our projects (Blue Missouri, Blue Ohio, Blue Tennessee, and First In Line), here.
