Political Boss Jeanna Repass: A Force to be Reckoned With in Kansas Politics

Key Points:

• Jeanna Repass, chair of Kansas Democratic Party, had a successful first year.
• Now she’s focusing on winning a veto-proof majority in the Kansas Legislature. 
• Repass, who ran for statewide office in 2022, has political aspirations. 
• She encourages voting, running for office, and volunteering.

Jeanna Repass is a tough woman for a tough job.

After an unsuccessful but impressive run for Kansas secretary of state in 2022, she was the kind of contender the Democrats didn’t want to see crawl back into the woodwork.

A daughter of a minister, with a full and demanding voice, she knew how to rouse a crowd, and when she got their attention, she had something impressive to say. 

It was a winning combination. Not quite enough to garner the position of the state’s top election officer, but it did help catapult her to the position of chair of the Kansas Democratic Party.

Elected chair in early 2022, it wasn’t a position she was looking to hold.  However, when the governor asks you to run, it’s hard to say no.  

Now at the head of the party for just over one year, she’s accomplished many of her goals, and is more determined than ever to score wins for Kansas Democrats in November, even though it’s not her that’s running.    

Year One Accomplishments

After an initial analysis of where the party stood, Repass says she started her first year with four objectives and she feels she accomplished them all. 

Recognizing it takes a good team to get the job done, she expanded the party staff, adding two full-time members and replacing a few people along the way. She also worked on improving the party’s brand, which, for a statewide organization, required a lot of travel across the state and speaking on her part. 

Anybody who knows anything about politics, knows it takes a lot of money to run and win campaigns.   

When Repass took over, she says, “the budget was insufficient to stand up a winning party.” So they started raising money. The fundraising strategy included going after “higher capacity investors,” but they didn’t forget the grassroot Democrats who are the heart of the party. 

Repass says the organization is still working on growing the number of their Blue Kansas Club members, an organization of those who give monthly to the party. Finally, she says she worked to unify the party. 

“I believe the Democrats are as unified as we’ve ever been,” says Repass.  That’s in sharp comparison to the Republicans, both nationally and in the state, who are starkly divided. 

Republicans are trying to purge their special-interest caucuses, like their Latino, African-American, LBGTQ, and women’s groups, out of their party leadership committee. In contrast, those caucuses are part of the Democrats’ executive leadership team and Repass  supports and encourages their voices and engages them as often as possible.

She’s doing the work and putting in a tremendous amount of effort, the kind of effort Democrats need to grow our party to be strong and competitive statewide,” says Kerry Gooch, a former executive director of the Kansas Democratic Party, who has seen the party from the inside and knows what it takes.

2024 Election Goal

More than just a presidential election, this is a big year in Kansas politics.  All four congressional seats, all 40 state Senate seats and all 125 members of the Kansas House are up for reelection. As Kansas Democratic chair, Repass is serious about seeing Democrats come through the election with a net gain in seats.

She has a candidate set to run in each of the four congressional seats.  Important is protecting Sharice Davids’ seat, the only Democratic congressional member from Kansas. However, with Jake LaTurner not seeking reelection, Repass is hopeful Democrats might be able to gain the second congressional seat. While she says she has a candidate set to run in that seat, she wasn’t ready to announce the name quite yet. 

Repass says her goal for the state Senate and House is to get enough Democrats in seats to be able to keep the Republicans from being able to overturn Gov. Laura Kelly’s vetoes. 

“As Democrats, we stand behind our Democratic governor and my job as the state chair is to make sure that the legislation she wants to put forward has support,” Repass says. “We really need to get to a place where we have enough Democrats that if the governor vetoes a bad piece of legislation, that veto can be sustained by Democrats.” 

During the 2022 session, Kelly vetoed 19 bills and the Republicans were able to override her veto 13 times, but 10 of those times were by one vote. To guarantee the power to sustain the governor’s veto, the Democrats need to have 14 of 40 seats in the Senate. They currently have 11. In the House, they need 42 of 125 seats. They currently have 40. However, with Marvin Robinson, a Democrat from Wyandotte County, voting 95% or more of the time with the Republicans, Repass is aiming for 43 seats in the House, to give Democrats the votes they need. 

2024 Party Election Strategy

The Democrats have a strategy they believe will help them reach their election goal. They’re focusing heavily on, and investing in, what they call Tier One Protects and Tier One Pickups. 

Tier One Protects are seats Democrats may have picked up from Republicans, who want to get them back. Tier One Pickups are seats where Democrats ran a candidate last time who came in close and they feel they might just be able to get a win this time.

An example of a Tier One Pickup is Stacey Knoell, an African-American female who ran for a Senate seat in Johnson County. 

“She closed a 20-point gap and ended up losing by just six percentage points, just 1800 votes,” said Repass. She pointed to another race the Dems lost by just 60 votes. 

Tier Two seats are Democrats who could be in danger of losing their seats. They may have won in districts that are not that strongly Democratic-leaning, so the party will give them some resources to help protect their seats. Tier Three and Four seats are considered safe, like the seats held by most of the African-American members of the Senate and House.     

While the party isn’t expecting to pick up any seats in western Kansas, she still hopes to get a candidate to run in every open seat. 

“We still think it’s important to get a Dem to put their name on the ballot even if they can’t win,” says Repass. “Nothing is more anti-American, more anti-democratic, than walking into a voting booth and not seeing any Democrats to vote for.”

Repass’ Political Future

When she ran for secretary of state in 2022, Repass was among the first African-American women to run for a statewide office in Kansas. She did OK, earning 38.8% of the vote as a Democratic candidate running against a Republican incumbent. 

What she did best was build a name for herself as a quality candidate with winning potential. 

“She’s the real deal,” says Gooch, who worked closely with Repass on her campaign. “She’s very well-spoken, she has a fresh perspective and a story everyone can connect with. I truly believe she can win on a statewide level.”

Repass says she plans to run for office again in 2026 but is not yet willing to say what office she’ll run for. Probably not because she’s being secretive, but because she’s seriously weighing and considering her options.   

In the meantime, a political novice when she ran the first time, her role as party chair is teaching her more than a few things about politics, fundraising and campaigning that she can put to good use the next time around. 

Her Ask of Community Voice Readers

Repass says she realizes not everyone will get involved with party-level politics, but she has a few asks for our readers. 

Vote: “That’s not an option, that’s a requirement of being a citizen of this country,” Repass says, “but as an African American, our very lives depend on us voting.”

Run for Office: “Why not you,” she asks, particularly of young people. “The future of the country is on your shoulders.” To those who say they’re too old to run, or that’s not for them, she says to encourage someone you know to run. “Barack Obama didn’t just fall out of nowhere. Someone encouraged him.”

Volunteer: “I’m not going to go to the ‘please donate,’ because I get it, money’s hard and times are hard, but you can volunteer your time, which is really the best resource you have,” Repass says. “Find a candidate. Find a Black candidate, find a female candidate, find a Democrat, but volunteer.  Pick up the phone, talk to a neighbor, knock on a door, but volunteer. Put sweat equity into your country, put some sweat equity into your community, put some sweat equity into yourself.”

Remember, she’s a preacher’s daughter. Preach, Jeanna, preach.