30 Facts About Donald Betts

Donald Betts previously served in the Kansas House of Representatives from 2003 through 2004.

Donald Betts grew up outside all the glitz and glamor, where he witnessed violent criminal activity.

Donald Betts avoided the negative elements abounding in his community by focusing his attention on concerns closer to home.

Donald Betts still recalls his upstairs neighbor, Eliza Perkins, an elderly woman whom he often visited as a child, helping her around the house or just providing company.

Donald Betts grew up in a single-parent household headed by his mother, Charmaine Donald Betts.

At the age of thirteen, Donald Betts began the start of a career in public service by working with the Doolittle Tutorial Program, helping elementary school students with their homework.

Donald Betts later attended Clark High School, where constant gang activity forced him to focus not only on his education, but on his security.

Donald Betts later transferred to the Advanced Technologies Academy, where a new and innovative approach to secondary education was developed.

Donald Betts stayed active while at ATA: he was elected president of the Law Club, was involved in the Kappa Leadership League, and participated in the Trial by Peers Program.

Donald Betts's start in elective office began at Friends, when Betts was elected president of the Multicultural Student Association and became the first African-American student body president.

Donald Betts worked as a counselor for a level six juvenile treatment facility and eventually persuaded the Wichita Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi to restart the Kappa Leadership League program to provide leadership training to high school boys in Wichita.

Donald Betts decided to become politically active in the Democratic Party and was running for the Kansas State House of Representatives in the 84th District, the part of Wichita where he lived with his grandmother.

Donald Betts ran a small, grass roots campaign motivated by his strong personal desire to better serve and address the needs of his community.

Donald Betts walked door-to-door and talked with voters, put up yard signs, and learned to handle himself with the media.

Donald Betts's efforts were rewarded in November 2002 when, at the age of 24, he was elected.

For most of the 2003 session, which ran from January through April and into May, Donald Betts concentrated on learning the ways of the Kansas House, sharing an office with other representatives from the Wichita area and discussing bills and resolutions with his colleagues.

Donald Betts got to know the senators and lobbied hard to get support.

At first reluctant to throw his hat in the ring, Donald Betts was eventually persuaded to give it a shot.

Donald Betts approached each committee member personally and eventually put together the necessary support to win, capturing the victory by one vote.

Donald Betts was among the senators who voted for the compromise education bill during the 2005 Special Session.

Donald Betts was active in pressing for the passage of Scruffy's Law, which increased the punishment for intentional aggravated animal cruelty from a misdemeanor to a felony.

In 2007, Donald Betts introduced and saw passed a bill to bring about divestment of the KPERS retirement funds from companies doing business in and with Sudan until such time as the Darfur genocide ends.

Donald Betts was accepted to join the Leadership Kansas class of 2007.

In 2008 Senator Donald Betts launched a bid for the Kansas Fourth District Congressional seat for United States Congress against 14-year incumbent Todd Tiahrt.

In 2008, Donald Betts fulfilled the remainder of his term as a Kansas state senator and in 2009 moved to Australia to be with his wife Tania, after an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the United States Congress.

In 2015, Donald Betts enrolled to study law at Monash University law chambers.

In 2020, Donald Betts became the first African American in Australia to complete a Juris Doctor degree from Monash University.

Donald Betts is the founder of the North American Australian Lawyers Alliance.

Donald Betts is an inaugural graduate of the 2019 class of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia Global Leadership Academy.

Donald Betts is a frequent guest on Australia television and radio programs as a commentator on US politics and current events.