This Topekan running for Kansas Senate's 19th District isn't a stranger to public service

ShaMecha King Simms is one of three candidates vying for the newly drawn 19th district in the Kansas Senate. It’s the first elected office she has sought but not her first foray into public service.

For the past four years, she’s been a neighborhood advocate as a chair of the Citizen Advisory Council for the City of Topeka, and as president of Historic Old Town Neighborhood Improvement Association. She said she decided to run after seeing the newly drawn District 19 and realizing she lived right in the middle of it.

As a neighborhood advocate, she connected people of moderate to low incomes to resources that help neighborhoods. In the Statehouse, King Simms hopes to keep the same focus on Topekans' needs in a higher office.

“Resources are really critical to neighborhoods and not always easily accessible when you don’t have folks that can advocate on their behalf," King Simms said. "That’s really where a lot of my experience is, working with the city, working with the county, working with the private sectors, nonprofits and trying to knit all the pieces together so that we have a better community.”

King Simms focuses on social infrastructure and public education

The core issues King Simms said she’s running on are social infrastructure, responsible governance and support for public education. She worked in school systems for more than a decade before pivoting away from her role as a substitute teacher during the past four years.

“I feel we’re going the wrong direction with education, especially with regard to pitting public education against private funds," King Simms said. "That’s definitely one thing that I really want to focus on.”

King Simms is facing the current House Minority Leader Vic Miller and former congressional candidate Patrick Schmidt in a three-way primary, although more candidates could still file to run by June 1. Miller is one of the most powerful Democrats in the state and Schmidt greatly boosted his name recognition during the campaign for Kansas' 2nd Congressional District.

King Simms, a political newcomer, will have to overcome the barrier of familiarity and name recognition but hopes she can be a different kind of candidate than her established opponents.

“Institutional knowledge is important, and you do need to honor those who have made the way, but I also think that there’s room for inspiration and there’s room for people to see something different,” King Simms said. “It’s easy to focus on name recognition and in time served, but also at some point you have to make room for others.”

Though elections usually go in favor of the incumbent candidate, Washburn University political science professor Bob Beatty said there are a couple of factors that could lead to an upset.

“A newly drawn Senate seat means that a fair number of voters may not know Miller and thus will not see him as the incumbent,” Beatty wrote in response to questions about the race. “Primaries in state legislative races can often bring about surprises. I remember in 2010 when Garrett Love defeated the then-Speaker of the House, Melvin Neufeld, in a GOP primary.”

No Republican has filed yet to run for the Senate seat, which is likely favorable toward Democrats.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: ShaMecha King Simms running for Senate representing Topeka, Lawrence