Kansas Helen Podcast

Ed Young is running for Kansas House District 27 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Young names schools, AI data centers, and transportation as the top issues he is hearing in District 27. He discusses the opening of 69 Highway, ongoing congestion, coordination between cities and the county, growth pushing south in Johnson County, the loss of older transportation options like streetcars, and th...

Kayden Bennett is running for Kansas House District 81 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Learn more about Kayden Bennett here: www.kaydenforkansas.com Bennett and Helen discuss data centers, water, pollution, and the need for regulation. Bennett says he does not know enough about every detail but believes large facilities should not be built without strict rules, soil and water testing, and a...

Ed Young is running for Kansas House District 27 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Young discusses school funding, vouchers, and special education as central issues in the district. He says private school vouchers shift more responsibility onto property taxpayers because private schools are not required to serve special education students the same way public schools are. He connects public sch...

Ed Young is running for Kansas House District 27 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Young says he respects his primary opponent and would support her if she wins, but argues that his Kansas experience makes him a strong candidate. He points to his work for KDOT, his place in the Kansas Aviation Hall of Fame, his planning and budgeting experience, his education at KU, his teaching for Kansas Sta...

Kayden Bennett is running for Kansas House District 81 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Learn more about Kayden Bennett here: www.kaydenforkansas.com Bennett says he wants child marriage to be illegal in Kansas and that marriage should require someone to be 18 with no exceptions. He and Helen discuss teen pregnancy, family pressure, foster youth, education, and the inconsistency of treating y...

Ed Young is running for Kansas House District 27 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Young discusses AI data centers as a major issue that deserves transparency, evaluation, and community input. He connects the issue to broader Kansas concerns such as groundwater, industrial development, aviation, economic impact, tax exemptions, and abandoned infrastructure. He argues that large projects should...

Kayden Bennett is running for Kansas House District 81 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Learn more about Kayden Bennett here: www.kaydenforkansas.com Bennett discusses senior care through the example of his grandmother, who receives small pensions that put her over the threshold for Medicaid and other assistance even though the costs of medication, food, and in-home help exceed what she can a...

Ed Young is running for Kansas House District 27 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Young discusses the August 4 judicial amendment vote from his perspective as an attorney who has voted on judicial nominating committees. He says the process is not controlled by the Kansas Bar Association, explains that licensed attorneys in each congressional district vote for nominating committee members, and...

Kayden Bennett is running for Kansas House District 81 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Learn more about Kayden Bennett here: www.kaydenforkansas.com Bennett discusses foster care reform from his experience working with children in foster care and serving as a foster parent. He says the system needs more trauma-informed training, more psychology-based practices, stronger standards of care, an...

Ed Young is running for Kansas House District 27 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Young discusses his experience as state director of aviation and how programs sometimes had to be designed around the risk of funding being swept or changed at the end of the year. He explains that even established programs with bids ready could be affected by legislative tinkering, especially when state project...

Kayden Bennett is running for Kansas House District 81 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Learn more about Kayden Bennett here: www.kaydenforkansas.com Bennett talks about firearm safety in his own home, including keeping guns locked up, teaching children that firearms are serious, and asking other parents how guns are stored before his children visit. He says he supports secured storage laws s...

Ed Young is running for Kansas House District 27 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Young explains that he decided to run after seeing that no one else had filed in the district and after becoming frustrated with his current representative’s approach to schools and local government. He discusses House Bill 2299, the statewide cellphone policy issue, Blue Valley’s estimated implementation cost,...

Kayden Bennett is running for Kansas House District 81 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Learn more about Kayden Bennett here: www.kaydenforkansas.com Bennett and Helen discuss the August 4 vote on a constitutional amendment related to Kansas Supreme Court justices. Bennett describes the current selection process as one involving legal professionals identifying qualified candidates before the...

Ed Young is running for Kansas House District 27 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Young discusses being born in Ohio and moving to Kansas when he was 10 years old. He talks about growing up around 127th and Black Bob in Olathe, how the neighborhood has changed around the edges, and why returning to that area still feels nostalgic. See the full interview on Kansas Helen Substack and learn more...

Kayden Bennett is running for Kansas House District 81 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Learn more about Kayden Bennett here: www.kaydenforkansas.com Bennett discusses marijuana legalization, saying he does not use marijuana but knows veterans and others who use it for pain, PTSD, or recreation. He argues that Kansas is sending people across state lines for something that could be grown, taxe...

Ed Young is running for Kansas House District 27 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Young answers the question of whether he knows what it feels like to not have one more penny. He talks about being broke while he and his wife were students at KU, saving money for a weekly Whopper, making soup in a coffee pot, and remembering how difficult it was when that coffee pot broke. He also discusses gr...

Kayden Bennett is running for Kansas House District 81 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Learn more about Kayden Bennett here: www.kaydenforkansas.com Bennett says his opponent is out of touch with regular people in the district and supports term limits in general. He says he is not sure exactly what the limits should be because he has not held the job yet, but he does not think people should...

Ed Young is running for Kansas House District 27 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Young introduces Kansas House District 27 as a large district in southern Johnson County, stretching from around 215th Street up to parts near 143rd Street. He describes the district’s unusual shape and notes that the Overland Park Arboretum is near his home and serves as his polling place. See the full intervie...

Kayden Bennett is running for Kansas House District 81 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Learn more about Kayden Bennett here: www.kaydenforkansas.com Bennett and Helen discuss running a low-cost grassroots campaign focused on canvassing and direct voter contact. Bennett talks about buying basic campaign supplies, knocking on doors, and rejecting the idea that a candidate needs tens of thousan...

Ed Young is running for Kansas House District 27 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Young begins by answering whether he knows what it feels like to “not have one more penny.” He affirms that he does, recalling his and his wife’s student years at KU when they had to scrape together enough money for a weekly Whopper from Burger King. He remembers making soup in a coffee pot, breaking it, and not...

Kayden Bennett is running for Kansas House District 81 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Learn more about Kayden Bennett here: www.kaydenforkansas.com Bennett says he is running because he is tired of not having a voice and feeling dismissed by his current representative. He describes raising concerns about property taxes and fully funding special education, being laughed at on Facebook, and l...

Kayden Bennett is running for Kansas House District 81 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Learn more about Kayden Bennett here: www.kaydenforkansas.com Bennett introduces Kansas House District 81 as including Plainview, McConnell Air Force Base, parts of unincorporated Sedgwick County, Wichita, and north Derby. Helen explains that Bennett is running as a Democrat in a district where she says vo...

Kayden Bennett is running for Kansas House District 81 in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Learn more about Kayden Bennett here: www.kaydenforkansas.com The full conversation introduces Kayden Bennett as a Democratic candidate for Kansas House District 81, which he describes as including Plainview, McConnell Air Force Base, parts of unincorporated Sedgwick County, Wichita, and north Derby. Benne...

Cole Epley is running for Kansas’ 4th Congressional District in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Learn more about Cole Epley here: https://www.epleyforcongress.com/ Epley discusses Palestine, anti-Zionism, and the way criticism of Israel’s government can be framed in bad faith as antisemitism. He and Helen distinguish between opposing a government’s actions and hating the people of a country. Ep...

Cole Epley is running for Kansas’ 4th Congressional District in the August 4th Democratic Primary. Learn more about Cole Epley here: https://www.epleyforcongress.com/ Epley says the question he gets most often is how he can win the primary with a smaller financial platform. He describes learning video editing, making his own campaign content, and relying on time, passion, and organizing instead of...