Submitted
Lori Blake, Assaria, filed to run for the 69th seat in the Kansas House of Representatives on Friday, April 12.
Blake is a lifetime resident of Saline County, serving most recently as the Executive Director at CAPS - Child Advocacy and Parenting Services.
According to Blake she is seeking this role to give voters a candidate who seeks solutions working with lawmakers across the aisle for lasting change felt by our neighbors.
Blake has built a career collaborating with community leaders as an advocate for all children and families.
“Over three decades as a small business owner and administrator in public education, disability supports and child abuse prevention, I have learned families are the foundation for society. When they thrive, we all do, but that’s not currently what’s happening. Many families are in survival mode.” Blake said.
During her three terms on the USD 306 School Board, she rose to be elected as the President of the Kansas Association of School Boards and is known as a public education advocate across the state. “We’ve made great gains in stabilizing the funding for public education and growing a rainy day fund, but our legislators have forgotten their duty. The legislature’s job is to fund the work, not continue passing policy that should be decided by our locally elected school board members and city and county commissioners who know our community values and needs,” Blake said.
Blake said she is also concerned about the loss of respect for public servants like our teachers, medical providers, and law enforcement officers; lack of universal access to quality health care; and government intrusion into an individual’s private life.
“I chose to stay and make a life in Central Kansas. My husband and I have raised three children here. I love this place and want to do all I can to leave it better than I found it. I hope the existing relationships I’ve had in my career and volunteer service will give me a head start to lift local issues,” Blake said.
After 10 years of being an unaffiliated registered voter, Blake filed as a Democrat. She wants to represent Saline County and create opportunities for unity instead of extreme division. She says her values, like most Kansans, live in the middle of the typical political spectrum.
Blake says that she loves making connections with new people and working together. To demonstrate the importance of bipartisanship, she sought out John Quinley, a Republican from Salina, to serve as her Treasurer.
“The different experiences across humanity present challenges, but when we can listen and focus on the issue at hand, the group mind prevails with solutions that are often mutually beneficial. Just like sending my kids to Salina Area Technical College, KU and K-State, we have different options to meet different needs. What’s good for Kansans is good for Kansas,” Blake said.