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Roger Sims
Roger Sims (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Kansas House of Representatives to represent District 5. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Sims completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Roger Sims was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Kansas in 1991. Sims' career experience includes working as a teacher, as a business owner, as a journalist, as a program manager with a nonprofit organization, and as an owner with a construction company.[1]
Elections
2020
See also: Kansas House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Kansas House of Representatives District 5
Incumbent Mark Samsel defeated Roger Sims in the general election for Kansas House of Representatives District 5 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Mark Samsel (R) | 77.3 | 8,061 |
 | Roger Sims (D)  | 22.7 | 2,362 | |
| Total votes: 10,423 | |||
| = 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 House of Representatives District 5
Roger Sims advanced from the Democratic primary for Kansas House of Representatives District 5 on August 4, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Roger Sims | 100.0 | 870 |
| Total votes: 870 | |||
| = 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 House of Representatives District 5
Incumbent Mark Samsel defeated Mark Powls in the Republican primary for Kansas House of Representatives District 5 on August 4, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mark Samsel | 60.2 | 2,181 |
 | Mark Powls | 39.8 | 1,442 | |
| Total votes: 3,623 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
| = 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
Roger Sims completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Sims' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I am a 20-year veteran of the Prairie View USD 362 Board of Education, and I also taught at Prairie View and West Franklin high schools as part of the state's program to put mid-career professionals in the classroom. For the last 30 years I have been a journalist, working for local newspapers in Osawatomie, Louisburg and Paola. I also worked as a writer and editor on several agricultural publications for Vance Corporation, which was recently purchased by Farm Journal. My wife, Charlene, and I have lived on a farm north of Parker for more than four decades, and we have volunteered for many activities to make our community better. Before COVID-19 closed down nursing homes and assisted living facilities, my wife and I would conduct sing-alongs for residents there. We hope we can return to doing that soon.
My goal as a legislator would be to represent the 5th District with an "open-door" policy that welcomes input from all residents of the district.- The first job as a Legislature is to help Kansans overcome the financial disaster that accompanies COVID-19. With 350,000+ Kansans facing eviction, this is crucial. We saw government take a role in helping us climb out of the Great Recession from 2009 to 2016, and it must do that again to help Kansans regain their financial stability.
- Make taxes fair. Currently in some areas Kansans pay the highest tax on food in the nation. This disproportionately affects low- and middle-income residents. Meanwhile large corporations and the wealthy still get significant tax breaks.
- Kansas should expand Medicaid. Medicaid expansion is a win-win proposition. It would provide an estimated 150,000 low-income Kansans with basic healthcare, particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic, while provide jobs in rural communities and insuring the financial stability of rural health care clinics and hospitals.
As a former school-board member and teacher, I see public schools as a great equalizer. Students who attend adequately funded public schools have a wealth of opportunities available to them, including attending top universities or discovering trade skills that will help them become productive members of our communities. Schools are a source of community pride, and those who would deprive them of funds do not serve the communities they represent.
The Legislature needs to do a better job of finding ways to help rural businesses grow and thrive. Too often, economic development is seen as bringing corporations into rural areas. Those companies usually take advantage of a largely low-income workforce. Instead, we need to encourage and assist the growth of locally grown companies. Let's make workers into successful business owners.
Environmental issues will continue to plague us as well. We are already seeing problems with ground water supplies and diminished capacity of the Oglalla Aquifer. We are seeing weather patterns change as a result of rising global temperatures. We will need to decide how Kansas will respond to a situation that arise outside its borders.
They are stories of people who are not yet retired but are disabled or otherwise unable to work. They are the people who must decide between medications and food. They are the ones who often live in ramshackle housing.
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 September 2, 2020
