The Dotte

Pat Pettey Announces Candidacy for Kansas Senate

Pat Pettey (D) – former Unified Government of Wyandotte County Commissioner and Kansas State Representative – announced today that she filed the necessary paper work and is running for the Kansas State Senate in the 6th District, comprising much of south Wyandotte County, against current sitting Senator Chris Steineger (R).

“After watching the voices and concerns of the people of the 6th district continually be ignored, I have decided to run for Kansas State Senate and offer my community the opportunity to elect a strong Democrat who shares their commitment to good schools, job creation, and a fair system.”

“Kansas is facing difficult issues that will require hard work and common sense solutions that are currently absent from Topeka.   When I talk to people throughout the 6th district I hear the same message – that concerns and needs of the hard working everyday Kansans in our community are currently being ignored.  We need elected officials who believe our economy should reward hard work, believe education is the key to our children’s future and our state’s future, and not be solely concerned with the advancement of their our political futures”

“The people of the 6th District deserve the opportunity to send someone to Topeka that isn’t going to play political games. Over the coming weeks and months, I will be out talking and listening to the people of the 6th District and asking them to join me in standing up for our community and the needs of the people in it.”

Pat Pettey has spent her entire life working to make the communities encompassed by the 6th district better for its residents. Pat has served this community as a previous State Legislator, UG Commissioner and lifelong educator in the Turner school district. She is a proud mother, grandma and wife and like many our community knows what matters most to the hard working families in the area.

Pat grew up in Turner and after graduating from the University of Kansas, she returned to give back to the community that helped raise her by teaching in the very district that prepared her so well for her future. After 24 years of teaching Pat decided to step up and fight for our community and schools by serving as a State Legislator for the 31st district from 1992 to 1996. After 4 years of serving in Topeka, Pat felt the need to make a bigger impact back at home on the local level and ran for the UG Commission where she served from 1997 to 2011.

During Pat’s time as commissioner the community saw the lowest crime rates in the previous 20 years; gained over $239 million in new and existing business expansion and job creation in her district alone; and saw a $7 million commitment to reinvesting in and rebuilding the area’s existing infrastructure. Pat knows what matters most to our community and what it takes to get the job done.

In 2011 after 36 years of teaching Pat retired from the Turner school district and is ready to step up and answer the needs of this community by running for State Senator.

Pat and her husband, John live in Turner and have two daughters, Alicia and Andrea and five wonderful grandchildren.

More information about Pat can be found on her website at by clicking here.