Kent P. Wilsey

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Kent P. Wilsey

Libertarian Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 3, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

Iowa State University, 1992

Personal

Birthplace

Pierre, S.D.

Religion

Born Again Christian

Profession

Farmer/Rancher

Contact

Personal Facebook

Kent P. Wilsey (Libertarian Party) ran for election to the South Dakota State Senate to represent District 29. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Wilsey completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Wilsey was a 2012 Libertarian candidate for District 62 of the North Carolina House of Representatives.

Biography

Kent P. Wilsey was born in Pierre, South Dakota. He earned a bachelor's degree from Iowa State University in 1992. His professional experience includes working as a farmer/rancher and as an aerospace engineer.

Elections

2020

See also: South Dakota State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for South Dakota State Senate District 29

Incumbent Gary L. Cammack defeated Kent P. Wilsey in the general election for South Dakota State Senate District 29 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Gary L. Cammack (R)	77.9	9,350
		Kent P. Wilsey (L)	22.1	2,656

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 12,006
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for South Dakota State Senate District 29

Incumbent Gary L. Cammack defeated Terri Jorgenson in the Republican primary for South Dakota State Senate District 29 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Gary L. Cammack	59.0	2,157
		Terri Jorgenson	41.0	1,496

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,653
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for South Dakota State Senate District 29

Kent P. Wilsey advanced from the Libertarian convention for South Dakota State Senate District 29 on May 9, 2020.

		Candidate
✔		Kent P. Wilsey (L)

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2012

See also: North Carolina House of Representatives elections, 2012

Wilsey ran in the 2012 election for North Carolina House of Representatives District 62. He ran unopposed in the Libertarian primary on May 8. He was defeated by incumbent John Blust (R) in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.

North Carolina House of Representatives, District 62, General Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	John M. Blust Incumbent	76.3%	27,633
	Libertarian	Kent P. Wilsey	23.7%	8,574
Total Votes				36,207

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Kent P. Wilsey completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Wilsey's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I hold these truths to be self-evident. That all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, chief among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that to preserve these rights, governments are created among men.

I hate taxes. As a township board member, I also sat on Equalization boards for property taxes and fought for landowners. SD property tax evaluation methods appear to be intentionally obfuscated. When elected, I will work to limit the size and scope of South Dakota government in order to minimize the tax burden on residents, and maximize the freedom and economic security of people. I will work to reduce the scope of government to that required to preserve their rights.

Since the state government is likely to have severely reduced tax revenue this year and next. There will be calls to increase tax rates to cover the shortfall. My answer will be "NO!" We should reduce government employees and spending instead. My opponent voted to increase the sales tax rate, and also voted to apply sales tax directly to online sales in the state - he has voted to raise our tax burden twice.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I will work to minimize taxes by reducing government.
• Key Libertarian Philosophy - you are free to do as you wish, so long as you aren't hurting anyone else.
• Education money should follow the kids.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Taxation, especially Agriculture land tax value estimation methodology.

Minimizing taxes by minimizing state spending.

On one of South Dakota's biggest expenses - education - I have a particular interest. Education, as done by every state, is a socialist institution, and it's cost constantly goes up and the quality goes down, consistent with socialism. I would like to see us move to a capitalist education system, where parents choose what sort of education their children will have, and pick between multiple private education choices to best suit their family. As a small step toward that, I will introduce legislation to allow school districts to give scholarships to kids to attend school in places other than district-owned buildings and count those kids toward their district attendance.

Ending the war on drugs.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Jesus Christ, my father, President Eisenhower, Elon Musk. I would like to follow the example of President Eisenhower, who was the last President to reduce the size, scope, and cost of the federal government.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

As an engineer, I was trained to hunt and dig down to the root cause of a problem, rather that finding an easy fix. A surprising amount of the problems facing America and South Dakota have at their root "too much government".

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Working to preserve the rights of all human beings, first and foremost, their constituents.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Helping kids at a summer recreation program. I had it one summer.

What is your favorite book? Why?

Time Enough for Love by Robert A Heinlein. It's an expansive story, filled with little tidbits of wisdom.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Woodrow Wilson Smith, from Time Enough for Love.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Only the struggles common to people. Making a living, maintaining a healthy marriage, raising our children, loving other people, serving God.

Do you believe that it’s beneficial for state legislators to have previous experience in government or politics?

Having experience is only beneficial in the first week of the legislative session. After a term or two, a legislator is beholden to too many people, too entrenched, and (at least in this case) too far removed from their constituents.

What do you perceive to be your state’s greatest challenges over the next decade?

First and short term, managing the state budget with diminished revenue will be a challenge. It is hard to say what world and national issues will create challenges here

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between the governor and the state legislature?

A friendly adversarial relationship.

Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.

Yes. As a Libertarian, I will be outnumbered by Republicans. I will have to build relationships to get them to understand my positions.

What process do you favor for redistricting?

In a perfect world, there would be no districts. People would vote for people that most closely represented their priorities. In the real world, districts should be rectangular boxes that all contain approximately the same number of people, regardless of those people's race, financial status, or political affiliation.

If you are not a current legislator, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?

I would like to be on Appropriations as an advocate AGAINST spending. As a rancher, I should be on the Agriculture committee. As a former engineer, I would have a lot to offer the Commerce and Energy committee, and the Transportation committee. As mentioned, I would like to be on the Education committee.

If you are not currently a member of your party’s leadership in the legislature, would you be interested in joining the leadership? If so, in what role?

I would be a Libertarian leader in some way. There will be no more than 6 of us.

Are you interested in running for a different political office (for example, the U.S. Congress or governor) in the future?

Probably.

Both sitting legislators and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?

Many times and from many ranchers, I've heard how in the 1930s, many farms and ranches were seized and sold just to pay taxes. This area is dotted with the remains of abandoned building from that era. Many ranchers believe this can happen again, if taxes aren't held in check.

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.

2012

Wilsey stated, "I simply believe that at all levels of government, there is too much taxing, too much spending, and way too much meddling in places government does not belong. Simply cutting budgets is not enough. Yes, we need to thin the bureaucracies every chance we get, but that is only a temporary solution. A longer lasting solution is to remove the law that mandates a government action, and return authority to the individual. This way whole branches of governments can be removed, and they will stay removed."

External links

Suggest a link

• Search Google News for this topic
• Biography from Project Vote Smart
• Legislative Profile from Project Vote Smart
• Follow the Money

Footnotes

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Current members of the South Dakota State Senate

Leadership

Majority Leader:Jim Mehlhaff

Minority Leader:Liz Larson

Senators

District 1

Michael Rohl (R)

District 2

Steve Kolbeck (R)

District 3

Carl Perry (R)

District 4

Stephanie Sauder (R)

District 5

Glen Vilhauer (R)

District 6

Ernie Otten (R)

District 7

Tim Reed (R)

District 8

Casey Crabtree (R)

District 9

Joy Hohn (R)

District 10

Liz Larson (D)

District 11

Chris Karr (R)

District 12

Arch Beal (R)

District 13

Sue Peterson (R)

District 14

Larry Zikmund (R)

District 15

Jamie Smith (D)

District 16

Kevin Jensen (R)

District 17

Sydney Davis (R)

District 18

Lauren Nelson (R)

District 19

Kyle Schoenfish (R)

District 20

Paul Miskimins (R)

District 21

MyKala Voita (R)

District 22

Brandon Wipf (R)

District 23

Mark Lapka (R)

District 24

Jim Mehlhaff (R)

District 25

Tom Pischke (R)

District 26

Tamara Grove (R)

District 27

Red Foster (D)

District 28

J. Marty (R)

District 29

John Carley (R)

District 30

Amber Hulse (R)

District 31

Randy Deibert (R)

District 32

Helene Duhamel (R)

District 33

Curt Voight (R)

District 34

Taffy Howard (R)

District 35

Greg Blanc (R)

Republican Party (32)

Democratic Party (3)