Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
Kristen O'Shea
Kristen O'Shea (Republican Party) was a member of the Kansas State Senate, representing District 18. She assumed office on January 11, 2021. She left office on January 13, 2025.
O'Shea (Republican Party) ran for election to the Kansas State Senate to represent District 18. She won in the general election on November 3, 2020.
O'Shea completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Kristen O'Shea earned a master's degree in education. O'Shea's career experience includes working as the executive director of the quality of life division for the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce and owning a business. She served as the vice president of Shawnee County Parks and Recreation.[1]
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
O'Shea was assigned to the following committees:
- Commerce Committee
- Senate Education Committee
- Public Health and Welfare Committee
- Child Welfare System Oversight Committee
- Corrections and Juvenile Justice Oversight Committee (decommissioned)
2021-2022
O'Shea was assigned to the following committees:
- Corrections and Juvenile Justice Oversight Committee (decommissioned)
- Commerce Committee
- Senate Education Committee
- Public Health and Welfare Committee
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
- See also: Kansas State Senate elections, 2024
Kristen O'Shea did not file to run for re-election.
2020
See also: Kansas State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for Kansas State Senate District 18
Kristen O'Shea defeated Tobias Schlingensiepen in the general election for Kansas State Senate District 18 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Kristen O'Shea (R)  | 59.2 | 19,396 |
 | Tobias Schlingensiepen (D) | 40.8 | 13,364 | |
| Total votes: 32,760 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Kansas State Senate District 18
Tobias Schlingensiepen defeated Joe Cheray and H. Dean Zajic in the Democratic primary for Kansas State Senate District 18 on August 4, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Tobias Schlingensiepen | 52.9 | 2,599 |
 | Joe Cheray | 28.0 | 1,378 | |
 | H. Dean Zajic | 19.1 | 940 | |
| Total votes: 4,917 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Kansas State Senate District 18
Kristen O'Shea advanced from the Republican primary for Kansas State Senate District 18 on August 4, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kristen O'Shea | 100.0 | 8,328 |
| Total votes: 8,328 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Kristen O'Shea completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by O'Shea's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
Previously O'Shea served as Executive Director of the quality of life division for the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Greater Topeka, and coordinated membership for LeadingAge Kansas an association for non-profit aging services. She received the Rising Professional Award for Kansas State University for 2019. Kristen serves on the Board of Trustees for the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library and was the Vice President of Shawnee County Parks and Recreation. She has a Masters in Education and is a graduate of Kansas State University.
- Jobs & Economy: Support our small businesses, get people back to work, common sense taxation and transparent, accountable government
- Support Education: Fully fund education through classroom investment and student-based outcomes.
- Protecting Life & Liberty: Ensure every Kansan has the freedom to prosper.
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.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Kansas scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
In 2024, the Kansas State Legislature was in session from January 8 to April 30.
- Legislators are scored on their stances on conservative fiscal policy.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on a variety of issues of interest to the organization.
- Legislators are scored on their support for bills that the organization lists as promoting "individual liberty, limited government, free markets and student-focused education."
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2023, the Kansas State Legislature was in session from January 9 to April 28.
|
2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2022, the Kansas State Legislature was in session from January 10 to May 23.
|
2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2021, the Kansas State Legislature was in session from January 11 to May 26.
|
See also
2020 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Kansas State Senate District 18 |
Personal |
Footnotes
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Vic Miller (D) |
Kansas State Senate District 18 2021-2025 |
Succeeded by - |
