35 Facts About Laura Kelly

Laura Kelly was reelected in 2022, narrowly defeating Republican nominee Derek Schmidt.

Laura Kelly was born in New York City to a military family that moved often and was stationed overseas.

Laura Kelly worked as a recreation therapist at New York's Rockland Children's Psychiatric Center.

Laura Kelly became director of physical education and recreation therapy at the National Jewish Hospital for Respiratory and Immune Diseases.

Laura Kelly then moved to Kansas, and became executive director at the Kansas Recreation and Park Association from 1988 to 2004.

Laura Kelly was elected to the Kansas Senate representing northern Topeka in November 2004, later serving as Minority Whip.

In late 2009, Laura Kelly briefly considered a run for Kansas's 2nd congressional district.

On December 15,2017, Laura Kelly announced her intention to run for governor of Kansas.

On May 24,2018, Laura Kelly announced State Senator Lynn Rogers as her running mate.

Laura Kelly was endorsed by former Kansas Governor and US Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.

Laura Kelly was endorsed by 28 current or former Republican government officials, including former Kansas Governor Bill Graves; former State Senator, Lt.

Laura Kelly has all the qualities and all the capabilities that we are looking for to lead the state during this difficult time and to reestablish the state to what it once was.

Laura Kelly has integrity, and I know she will bring Kansans together regardless of party to solve problems.

Laura Kelly described her candidacy as aimed at reversing the fiscal, educational and other "disasters" of Sam Brownback's governance.

Laura Kelly characterized her opponent, who had been noted for his broad disenfranchisement of voters and legal strategies against immigrants, as "Sam Brownback on steroids".

Laura Kelly was regarded as a moderate Democrat while she was a state senator, and more liberal as governor.

Laura Kelly was critical of the Kansas experiment, the experimental Kansas budget of her predecessor Sam Brownback that led to cuts in schools, roads, and public safety.

In 2019, Laura Kelly vetoed two Republican bills that would have cut state income taxes in Kansas.

Laura Kelly said that the state could not afford the cuts, and that the Republican bill, which would have cut revenues by an estimated $245 million over a three-year period, would have precipitated a "senseless fiscal crisis" and created a budget deficit.

Laura Kelly sought to use some of the reserves to pay down debt and make payments to the state pension system.

Laura Kelly strongly criticized the Trump administration's slow response to the crisis and the federal failure to provide Kansas and other states with adequate supplies of personal protective equipment and testing kits.

On November 16,2020, Laura Kelly renewed her call for the legislature to join her in the issuance of masking orders.

Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt opposed Laura Kelly's order, issuing a memorandum calling it a violation of the Kansas state law, and urged law enforcement not to enforce it.

Laura Kelly called this "shockingly irresponsible"; at the time, there had been more than a thousand confirmed COVID-19 cases, and dozens of confirmed COVID-19 deaths, in Kansas, and of 11 identified sources of contagion, three had come from recent religious gatherings.

Laura Kelly challenged the LCC's decision in the Kansas Supreme Court.

That case became moot after Laura Kelly issued a new executive order with less restrictive COVID-19 rules effective on May 4,2020, under an agreement that allowed the churches to hold larger in-person services but required social distancing.

In January 2020, after years of Republican opposition, Laura Kelly struck a bipartisan compromise deal with Republican Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning that made Kansas the 38th state to accept the Medicaid expansion.

In 2021, Laura Kelly called for further expansion of Medicaid, proposing to pay for it with the revenue from the legalization of medical marijuana.

Laura Kelly has supported reforming KanCare so that more citizens have access to health insurance.

Laura Kelly combined the Department of Children and Family Services with the Department of Aging and Disability Services into a consolidated, integrated Department of Human Services.

In January 2020, Laura Kelly called for major changes to the Osawatomie State Hospital, the long-troubled state psychiatric hospital that has faced scrutiny from federal regulators over security, safety, and treatment lapses.

Laura Kelly has supported a plan for state funding for mental health crisis centers in the state.

Laura Kelly has stated that she would like to ensure Kansas schools are funded and focus on improving the performance of Kansas students to be competitive with other parts of the country.

Laura Kelly opposed a Republican-proposed anti-abortion amendment to the Kansas Constitution in early 2020, saying it would return Kansas to the "dark ages".

Laura Kelly has been married to physician Ted Daughety, a specialist in pulmonary and sleep disorders, since 1979.