JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Democrats have found a candidate for state treasurer, a Republican state senator has filed to run for insurance commissioner and one of the Legislature’s leading social conservatives isn’t seeking re-election.
The announcements all came ahead of Monday’s noon deadline for candidates to file for the Aug. 5 primary ballot.
Democrats completed their ticket for statewide offices when Carmen Alldritt, a former Harper County treasurer and ex-Department of Revenue official, filed Friday for state treasurer. She is only challenger so far for State Treasurer Ron Estes, a Republican who is seeking his second four-year term.
Alldritt is a business development consultant from Topeka, but she was elected as treasurer in the south-central Kansas country for 15 years, starting in 1988. She also served as the Department of Revenue’s director of vehicles, overseeing the division that handles driver licensing and vehicle registrations, for seven years, from 2003-2010.
Among Republicans, state Sen. Clark Shultz, of Lindsborg, officially filed for insurance commissioner Friday, though he’s already campaigned for months. He’s seeking to replace Commissioner Sandy Praeger, a three-term Republican not seeking re-election.
Shultz was appointed to the Senate earlier this year to fill a vacancy after serving 17 years in the House, including nine years as Insurance Committee chairman.
“I am guided by the value that to have a healthy insurance marketplace it must be good for business and responsible to consumers,” he said in a statement.
Five Republicans and one Democrat are running for insurance commissioner. The other GOP candidates are Beverly Gossage, of Eudora, director of a health insurance consulting company; David Powell, an El Dorado insurance agent; Ken Selzer, of Leawood, an accountant and a managing director of a global reinsurance firm; and John Toplikar, of Olathe, a Johnson County Commission member.
The Democrat is Dennis Anderson, of Overland Park, who operates a company providing education services to banks, insurance companies, investment brokers and financial services firms.
Meanwhile, veteran state Rep. Lance Kinzer, an Olathe Republican who has been one of the Legislature’s most vocal opponents of abortion and gay rights, announced on his website that he would not seek a sixth term. He is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
In recent years, he’s helped draft new abortion restrictions, backed “religious freedom” measures to protect individuals and groups who have moral objections to gay marriage and same-sex relationships and authored an unsuccessful bill to ban local governments from establishing domestic partner registries.
Kinzer was first elected to the House in 2004. In his statement, Kinzer said he first decided not to run again in December 2012.