Olivia Hayse the Libertarian candidate running for the Sedgwick County Commissioner’s seat in Kansas in the November 3 midterms . Ahead of the elections, she spoke exclusively with HT.com about the issues in the county and the need for different voices in politics.
For reference, Hayse noted that the Kansas county commissioners make over $100,000 a year. She also flagged a $12-13 million payment made to Wichita State University, which was supposed to be a ‘burden’ of the city, but the ‘county took it over’. Slamming the ICE actions in the state, Hayse said that there was a ‘legitimate fear’ among people due to the federal agency’s actions in Kansas.
“I feel like I have a pretty good chance, I have a lot of Dem [Democrat] support, and obviously Libertarian and Independent support,” Hayse said, adding “even some Republicans” had recently approached and told her they were ‘tired of being single issue candidates’. Hayse pointed to what she called ‘low hanging fruit’ like the salaries in the county commission, which she said didn’t need to ‘be that high’. “People are not wanting to go to the grocery store, to their favorite restaurants, because of the ICE presence,” Hayse said. “They’re tired of this team and that team, and they’re tired of the most extreme options,” Hayse said, adding “Especially in Kansas, there is a want of leaders that will collaborate and communicate. Signing off, Hayse said that in the final stretch ahead of the elections, she was still seeing a lot of undecided voters.
She shared that she’s lived in Howell’s district for a very long time and served on his citizen advisory board, giving her an insight into how her political opponent works and governs. The Libertarian candidate explained how she’s seen low attendance at events that she’s been a part of as well. She added that some of the issues likely to be on people’s minds is spending, and the political back and forth that has been going on between parties. She conveyed the message that there was ‘nothing to lose’.
the biggest issues were having programs culturally available for citizens, the situation has now changed While earlier.
“The county commission I am running for, all five are Republican, and whether you like that party or that is your party, that’s not a representative government,” Hayse said. She shared that one Libertarian among four-five Republicans would be there for some checks and balances, which is what she intended to do, if elected.
“We have nothing to lose by taking a chance and getting some of these career politicians…they’ve obviously failed us,” Hayse said. “It’s okay to take a chance,” Hayse said “and now is a good time to see if we can improve our lives a little bit. She added “Any Republican we can unseat will be better for the state, if for no other reason than we go back to collaborating, we go back to true representation…At least if we can have a more even split of representation across the entire state, that’d be good.”
She added it might feel ‘risky’ to people to vote Libertarian and responded to criticisms of her alleged lack of political experience. Hayse noted she’s been a political organized for some time, just not been in elected office, but felt the skills were transferable.
