Kansas House of Representatives District 85 candidate surveys, 2022
This article shows responses from candidates in the 2022 election for Kansas House of Representatives District 85 who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.
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- Click here to see Candidate Connection survey responses.
Candidates and election results
General election
General election for Kansas House of Representatives District 85
Incumbent Patrick Penn defeated Jalon Britton in the general election for Kansas House of Representatives District 85 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Patrick Penn (R) | 57.0 | 5,064 |
 | Jalon Britton (D)  | 43.0 | 3,817 | |
| Total votes: 8,881 | |||
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Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses
Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. The section below shows responses from candidates in this race who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
Survey responses from candidates in this race
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Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
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Jalon Britton (D)
32 states and DC now prohibit children being shackled. The practice of shackling children, including leg irons, belly chains, and handcuffs, is common in courts in Kansas. For children, this practice can cause mental trauma that can last a lifetime. The presumption in our court system is that individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Having children appear before judges while shackled does not reinforce the idea that they are innocent. Shackling should only be used when the child has committed a serious, personal injury felony.
We also need to fully fund special education. School districts are required by law to fund special education. The legislature, by refusing to fully fund these programs, cause school districts to cut positions, like nurses and librarians, and programs that would benefit all children. The state of Kansas has a budget surplus and this needs to be funded.
Jalon Britton (D)
There is a therapist in SE Kansas with 70 children on her caseload. At one point during the fall, all of the pediatric psychiatric beds were full and there was a waiting list. Rates of suicide ideation and mental health issues are increasing among children and the number of therapists to treat them is not keeping up. There are 4 counties in Kansas with an adequate number of therapists. 4 out of over 100. This must change. We need to be innovative and find ways to attract more mental health professionals, and then open more facilities to help children who are in need of inpatient treatment. We also need more options for adults, state wide. We don’t have enough beds for our severely mentally ill population and we don’t have enough substance treatment facilities.
See also
More about these elections:
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