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Rachel Willis (Kansas)
Rachel Willis (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Kansas State Senate to represent District 20. She lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Willis completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Rachel Willis earned an undergraduate degree from Washburn University and a graduate degree from the University of Kansas. Her professional experience includes working in nonprofit management and lobbying. She has served as board president of Heights of Learning Preschool/Daycare Center and with PEO and CAFE (a statewide K-12 education family engagement advisory group).[1]
Elections
2020
See also: Kansas State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for Kansas State Senate District 20
Brenda Dietrich defeated Rachel Willis in the general election for Kansas State Senate District 20 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Brenda Dietrich (R) | 56.9 | 22,000 |
 | Rachel Willis (D)  | 43.1 | 16,696 | |
| Total votes: 38,696 | |||
| = 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 20
Rachel Willis advanced from the Democratic primary for Kansas State Senate District 20 on August 4, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Rachel Willis | 100.0 | 5,910 |
| Total votes: 5,910 | |||
| = 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 20
Brenda Dietrich defeated incumbent Eric Rucker in the Republican primary for Kansas State Senate District 20 on August 4, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Brenda Dietrich | 54.4 | 6,509 |
 | Eric Rucker | 45.6 | 5,451 | |
| Total votes: 11,960 | |||
| = 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
Rachel Willis completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Willis' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Rachel has proudly called Topeka home for the past 15 years. She fulfilled her dream of graduating from Washburn and went on to the University of Kansas for a Master's Degree in Public Administration. She also has more than a decade of experience in educational nonprofit management where she spends much of her time getting things done with very little money by bringing people together for the betterment of the whole. In other words, she has the experience needed to be a strong advocate at the Statehouse for the needs of Senate District 20. Rachel is running for Senate District 20 to continue to move Kansas forward, to ensure hardworking Kansans have opportunities to lead their lives to the fullest and to create a bright future for the next generation of Kansans. Rachel is an avid supporter of Governor Kelly and is passionate about similar causes.
Rachel is married to Steven Willis, and they have a son in elementary school.- Rachel will work hard to ensure hardworking Kansans have what they need to successfully live, work, and raise a family right here in Kansas. This means supporting fair, commonsense economic policies as well as working to improve quality of life through access to affordable healthcare, continued investments in education at all levels, a comprehensive transportation plan, and long term strategies to protect the environment for generations to come.
- Kansas has a long history of being on the morally right side of equality: joining the Union as a free state in 1861, becoming the first state in the nation to allow women to vote in school board and municipal elections, and ending school segregation with the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case. I'm proud to have these Kansas values. I believe Topeka - and all of Kansas - needs to be a place where not only all are welcome, but where everyone has the same opportunities to thrive and feel loved. Rachel will defend women and LGBTQ rights in our state.
- Nearly a decade of devastating economic policies and declining opportunities have driven people away from Kansas. In fact, the Kansas Health Foundation recently reported the annual growth rate in the working age population in Kansas is projected to be half that of the U.S. (from 2014 to 2064). As your state Senator, Rachel Willis will work alongside Governor Kelly, her colleagues in the Senate and House, and our local governments to change this projection.
Rachel applauds the work that the Governor has accomplished related to education funding. However, it continues to be too little. Funding to make our schools safer and more secure, funding for specialized programs to further develop workforce skills or funding to attract more people to become teachers, our children, youth and educators deserve better. Rachel will work hard to secure additional funding for education.
My aunt is someone I look up to for her resilience, discipline, and kindness. She has always been a mentor to me as well as a friend and drops everything if I need to call and talk something over with her. She always tells it how it is, which helps me become a better critical thinker and not get stuck on the minor details of issues.
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.
See also
2020 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 28, 2020
