Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.

Larry Dreiling

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search
BP-Initials-UPDATED.png
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Larry Dreiling

Silhouette Placeholder Image.png

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments
Last election

November 3, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

Fort Hays State University, 1980

Graduate

Fort Hays State University, 1985

Personal
Religion
Roman Catholic
Profession
Journalist, News Editor
Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Personal Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

Larry Dreiling (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Kansas State Senate to represent District 40. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

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

Biography

Larry Dreiling earned a bachelor's degree in political science (public administration emphasis) and communication (journalism/radio-TV emphasis) from Fort Hays State University in 1980 and a master's degree in communications (journalism emphasis) from Fort Hays State University in 1985. His professional experience includes working as a journalist and as a senior editor for the High Plains Journal. Dreiling has served as president of the American Agricultural Editors Association from 2000 to 2001, as president of the Association of North American Agriculture Journalists from 2006 to 2007, as president of the Hays Rotary Club, president of the Hays Sunrise Rotary Club, as a member of the Hays Chamber of Commerce, and as a platinum life member of the Fort Hays State Alumni Association.[1]

Elections

2020

See also: Kansas State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for Kansas State Senate District 40

Incumbent Rick Billinger defeated Larry Dreiling in the general election for Kansas State Senate District 40 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Rick Billinger
Rick Billinger (R)
 
78.8
 
28,023
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Larry Dreiling (D) Candidate Connection
 
21.2
 
7,530

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 35,553
Candidate Connection = 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 40

Larry Dreiling advanced from the Democratic primary for Kansas State Senate District 40 on August 4, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Larry Dreiling Candidate Connection
 
100.0
 
2,514

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 2,514
Candidate Connection = 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 40

Incumbent Rick Billinger advanced from the Republican primary for Kansas State Senate District 40 on August 4, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Rick Billinger
Rick Billinger
 
100.0
 
15,342

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 15,342
Candidate Connection = 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

Candidate Connection

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

Expand all | Collapse all

I am a native of Aurora, Colorado, the youngest of three kids. I moved to Hays, Kansas when I was 18 years old to attend Fort Hays State University. I am a third-generation graduate of FHSU, with my grandmother and mother earning teaching certificates there. My dad attended there for one year before World War II.

I have been telling the story of western Kansas and western Kansans for more than 40 years. I have seen plenty of changes in that time, from the advent of an Interstate highway to the loss of talented young people as they look for better opportunities elsewhere.

We are living in changing times, not often of our own control or design. Our leadership in Topeka needs to understand the people of our region, how they want to continue the folkways, mores, and traditions of the mostly small towns, while realizing that in order to survive there must be acceptance and tolerance of the multiple viewpoints, cultures, and identifications of the young, the immigrant, and those on the margins of society.

As I've faced a crossroads in my career path, I've realized an opportunity to serve humanity is now front of me, one I've been seeking since a heart operation nine years ago gave me the ability to carry on with my life, but, for some reason, I've been seeking something greater than just writing stories.

Well, here it is. I'm running for State Senate from District 40 in Kansas.

  • Expand Medicaid to secure the future of Critical Access Hospitals and ensure tertiary care centers are not overburdened.
  • Ensure rural public schools get a fair shake from an increasingly urban Legislature. This also means proper funding of Fort Hays State University.
  • Help give farmers a legacy for their children and grandchildren through full support of local enhanced management area for water resources, and work with federal authorities to assist producers who want to sell products raised on local Kansas farms and ranches across state lines by reduction of regulatory burdens.
The whole point of this campaign is expansion of Medicaid. It will keep our small hospitals alive, allowing local doctors to remain employed in small town Kansas. This, in turn, will add to county employment levels, and that will keep our schools open, our Main Streets filled with places to shop and eat, our churches and cultural activities active. I will do this by working with our urban brothers and sisters to help them understand that our folkways, mores, and traditions may be different, our specific needs may be as well, but our common values as Kansans will point us in the right direction.
I've had many role models. My dad as a business leader. A teacher who turned me from a curious person and made me a writer as well as a reporter. Several different politicians, of course. I think Bobby Kennedy was likely the best of all. He tried to bring everyone together in the midst of tragedy to become better than themselves, to take Shaw's words of "why not" and make them his own. Perhaps he would be the person I'd like to follow, to try to end divisions and to find our better angels. Good question.
Profiles In Courage was an early text for me, maybe third grade. JFK's stories were fascinating. The story of Edmund Ross later caught me once I moved to Kansas and how his vote kept the presidency important despite not getting rid of a horrible president.

A Time To Heal by Gerald Ford became a great read for me, as it helped me understand Ford's deeper reasoning for pardoning Richard Nixon instead of letting the judicial process run its course.

Jimmy Carter's book Turning Point helped me in my decision to run for office the first time, for State Senate. Frustrated with Georgia's racist past and anxious to see the state move forward, Carter ran against the local county bosses and, with his unique knowledge of the people of his district and their inner goodness, he won elective office.

It's a great read, by the way. Imagine you are over at his house having had Sunday dinner after church services and you sit on his front porch being regaled with this short but knowing tale of politics as it was, how it wants to be again, and how we can renew our land. It's funny as well as serious, because of the way he describes the local characters.
The most important characteristic is integrity. Without it, you're done for. Call it honor, too, I suppose. If you don't serve with integrity, that your word is your bond, you're done for.

I need to serve others more than self, and, with all apologies to the creators of Superman, serving for truth, justice, and the American Way for all.

Fairness is another principle. Laws can't be made fair to one group and unfair to another. I will strive to be fair to all concerned.

I will try to do my work in order to build goodwill among my fellow legislators. If you can't tell, I'm taking much of this from The Four-Way Test of Rotary International. I'm proud to currently serve as president of the Hays Sunrise Rotary Club.
I'm honest. I'm direct yet kind. I love the people of the area I serve, and want to help them. Being a journalist has made me a good listener, which is key to being successful in office.

I have over 40 years of experience in knowing what the area residents want, and also, what they need-even if they don't know it. I'll work to help guide them through the challenges of changing times.
Well, you need to show up with the purpose of serving all in your district every day, to do the job with sober resolve. This isn't some way to advance a lobbyist's agenda. This is about serving all the people of your district. That means service to the rich and poor; old and young; man and woman; white, Black and Brown; gay or straight. It's about serving with fiscal discipline and being a steward of the people's money, other resources, their very lives. This job matters.
I'd like to serve two terms in the Kansas Senate, and have people say I made a difference rather than "What difference did he make? None. He filled a seat and chewed gum. That's about all."

The one thing I want to accomplish is get Medicaid expansion completed. It will help thousands of people in my district by keeping Critical Access Hospitals open and our one tertiary health care facility from being overrun with patients at times like epidemics and pandemics.

I want to recreate a tax system that is fair to all, instead of benefitting only a few elites in the cities.

I want our rural schools to be as great academically as our urban schools, and give the kids to opportunity to go anywhere their dream, from Ivy Leagues to top flight technical colleges. We give them the tools to be ready to be their best.

I want our little counties and towns to shrink smart, that is without panic and with wisdom and assistance they can transform their economies to directed businesses.
I was five years old when JFK was assassinated in Dallas. I was watching cartoons on the local ABC station when the bulletin came up. I moved straight away to change the channel to CBS and Walter Cronkite, who had better details. Even then I was watching and understanding the world around me and trying to use a reporter's curiosity to get the story. It seems silly, but could it be I was born for politics somehow? I don't know.
My first job was cutting onions and mixing batter for dipping into onion rings at Mr. Burger in Hays. Had the job for three months until the job at radio station KAYS opened and started working there.

Mr. Burger was the home of homemade onion rings, and boy were they ever good. I still use the recipe to make them myself! Don't get me started around corn flour. I'll go crazy.
I don't read novels, since truth is stranger fiction. I read a lot of history and biography. My favorite, gosh, well I'll try one that influenced my run, since it's my favorite right now. That's "Turning Point," Jimmy Carter's memoir of his first campaign-for state senator from Georgia in 1966

It was a time of national upheaval and Carter tells an incredible story of those days from a small town perspective, even down to showing off the ads in the local weeklies indicating a was appointee to the local Soil Conservation Service board.

Now that's farming.

It's a funny book, too. You run into a bunch of archetypical Boss Hogg and Cooter characters who are up against Jimmy because he's such a good guy and they're racist rednecks. He thwarts them. It reads like a story Jimmy tells from the screen porch after Sunday dinner. Get a glass of sweet tea and enjoy.
Superman, who in the guise of a mild mannered reporter, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice, and THE AMERICAN WAY!
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction-The DEVO version.
I was born with a congenital heart defect that has caused me to undergo several procedures, including open heart surgery 10 years ago. It pulls you into understand the fragility of life and that when you have had something to give you a second chance I'm going to earn it. I think this run for office is that give back to the people who cared for me all these years. I aim is to stay in the Senate for eight years, then retire with a satisfaction of doing good in the world.
The Kansas House has a few moderate Republicans while the Senate is sharply divided almost 3:1 conservative Republicans to Democrats. Many of those conservatives are leaving office because they would lose in the next election, to be replaced by Democrats.

If we can gain four Democrats we can block the Republican override of Gov. Laura Kelly's vetoes. I hope to maybe make it five Democrats, just to make sure those vetoes are upheld.
Frankly, I'm on the margins with this notion of "not a professional politician" as a positive label. I believe, for example the best members of Congress come from state legislatures. It's in these places were people can best learn how to get things done. I've covered politics and government for 42 years in Kansas., so I think I've had some experience in see how the sausage is made in Topeka. I want to break a few old rules and make some new ones where I can in developing policy based on the years I've seen the bad in the system as well as the good in it.
The next decade will bring a final gasp, I'm afraid for a few of the counties in my district if we don't look hard at shrinking smarter. Rural, western Kansas is losing population, with little chance of seeing a boom any time soon. Because of that, our urban friends could have a wont to go after us, especially if the northeast Kansas suburbs of Kansas City, Missouri continue to grow and prosper.

This leaves us with the question of will they want to consider us Kansans? Will they place us in some sort of economic triage status where they'll simply defund us and leave us alone to die off, as some academics at a university with a fictional bird mascot think they should do.

I want to be that person that can be the voice of reason and say to those back east that we aren't worth financing or caring about that we are Kansans, too, and deserve respect for feeding the world, creating a highway system that enables security for our nation, and other good things.

We are different where we are. We like it that way, but we also want to be part of the world, too. And that will mean funding in ways our urban friends may not understand. I hope to help them to that end. The current guy isn't doing it. I will.
We should all get along. Like that song in Oklahoma! about cowboys and farmers, the governor and the legislature should always be friends. Doesn't mean they have to be of the same party, but should get along like friends should be.
See my answer above about the governor and legislators. The legislature already has a bipartisan group working toward civil discourse. I was invited to join by the Republican facilitator of the group, because he thought I'd be an asset as a reporter while being a candidate. I've learned valuable lessons already about the values of political courage and caring many members of the Legislature have for each other, and want to show to others even in the worst of political arguments. There are those currently serving with whom I've gained more respect than before because of this process.
Because our district is so far away from the chase of power, we will likely see redistricting based solely on population, maybe adding the rest of Phillips County, perhaps Osborne County as the western districts have hollowed out.

I fear for my eastern friends who'll be trying to take care of themselves, so I'd rather have an independent commission handle it. It would reduce the legal process a bit, since the whole issue will wind up in federal court in the end, anyway.
Well, let's shoot the moon and say I'd like to be on Ways and Means. That might be overly ambitious, but I think someone like me who specialized in governmental budgeting and taxation in college could really sink some teeth into it.

In that role, I often developed tax strategy simulations for presentations to students and faculty. I was always coming up with interesting scenarios on how to advance revenues while trying to maintain fairness. It's especially difficult at the state level where a three-legged stool of income, property and sales taxes were the ways governments were funded. With the stool, new sources had to be found.

Probably more like fantasy than reality, but it did create some sobering thoughts of "what if" someone did something crazy-like try to eliminate income taxes without logically replacing it with something else, rather than starving out the government and creating all sorts of rancor and division. It would be a great challenge for my skills.

Naturally, I want to serve on the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. It combines all the interests of many Northwest Kansans into one body. I'd like to combine that with a spot on Commerce, because new business in rural Kansas will continue to be agriculture oriented, and if I'd offer myself to be a conduit between the two bodies.

Finally, out of respect to a man I knew well as a reporter, I'd like to be on the Bob Bethell Committee for Home and Community Based Care and KanCare Oversight. Bob's work was so sincere, since he was a nursing home administrator, and he cared deeply about people on the margins. Naturally, the important function of KanCare oversight is maintained in the committee, but as the caregiver of my 99-year old dad, I want to ensure home health care providers are offering the best of care to their clients.

N/A
They'd have to meet more with me. It's like dating. Do they like you and you like them? Guess they'll pass notes during class, I suppose.
Certainly, Leader Anthony Hensley has given a lifetime of service to the Legislature and Kansans. I so deeply respect him and what he has tried to do through years of triumph and defeat, hope and hardship. He's current legislative role model.

For a past legislator, I want to give my propers to Don Hineman. A great man, a humble servant leader. He learned at the knee of his father, Kalo, another great legislator and later a fine federal official.

And because he's a home guy, former House Speaker and Gov. Mike Hayden. Just a wonderful person, a man who cared about our little corner of Kansas who very hard for us.
No. If i am honored to serve two terms in the Kansas Senate, that will be enough. I'll be 70 by that time and younger people need to be serving.
I was touched last week by a former resident who just lost his dad to COVID-19. There was no evidence he'd been in a crowd or did anything his family thought would have put him in jeopardy for catching the virus. It makes me realize that what lawmakers do affects real people, even your friends that you think bad stuff could never happen to. I really to help with this. I don't want to be helpless anymore.

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.

Additional information

Dreiling submitted the following statement to Ballotpedia:

“ I have traveled to more than 35 states and 20 countries to hear the stories of agriculture, but still, I always returned to northwest Kansas and the stories of 'my farmers and ranchers.' I am theirs and I they are mine. We have shared good times and bad times together. I now think I can bring that care to Topeka.[1][2] ”

See also

2020 Elections

Ballotpedia Election Coverage Badge.png
What's on the ballot?
U.S. President
U.S. Congress
U.S. Congress special elections
State executives
State legislatures
State courts
Ballot measures
Municipal government
School boards
Election analysis hub

Government

Seal of Kansas.png
Who represents me?
U.S. Congress
State executives
State legislators
State courts
Ballot measures
Municipal government
School boards

Newsletters

Ballotpedia RSS.jpg
Coronavirus Weekly Updates
Documenting America's Path to Recovery
The Heart of the Primaries
The Daily Brew
The Weekly Brew
The Ballot Bulletin
Checks and Balances
Economy and Society
Hall Pass
Number of the Day
Robe & Gavel
Union Station


External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 30, 2020
  2. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.


Current members of the Kansas State Senate
Leadership
Senate President:Ty Masterson
Majority Leader:Chase Blasi
Minority Leader:Dinah Sykes
Senators
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
District 12
District 13
District 14
District 15
District 16
District 17
District 18
District 19
District 20
District 21
District 22
District 23
District 24
District 25
Mary Ware (D)
District 26
District 27
District 28
District 29
District 30
District 31
District 32
District 33
Tory Blew (R)
District 34
District 35
TJ Rose (R)
District 36
District 37
District 38
District 39
District 40
Republican Party (31)
Democratic Party (9)


Flag of Kansas
v • e
State of Kansas
Topeka (capital)
Elections

What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2025 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures

Government

Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy


Retrieved from "https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Larry_Dreiling&oldid=9744842"