Sean Tevis (born , in Lawrence, Kansas,

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

) is a former candidate for the Kansas House of Representatives and

Kansas's 2nd congressional district Kansas' 2nd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Kansas that covers most of the eastern part of the state, except for the core of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The district encompasses less than a quarter ...

. His 2008 campaign for a seat in the Kansas House as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

included an off-beat ad campaign that attracted national attention and thousands of small donors; he lost to the incumbent, Republican

Arlen Siegfreid Arlen Herbert Siegfreid (August 23, 1946 - April 11, 2020) was a Republican member of the Kansas House of Representatives, representing the 15th district from 2003 to 2013 and the 121st district briefly from 2013 until his resignation a few months ...

, by 425 votes out of 10,103 cast. His 2010 campaign for Congress was less successful; Tevis came in third place in the Democratic primary, with 20% of the vote.

Early life

Tevis attended

Shawnee Mission West High School Shawnee Mission West High School is a fully accredited public high school located in Overland Park, Kansas, United States, serving students in grades 9-12. Shawnee Mission West is one of several public high schools located within Overland Park an ...

, where he was elected Class President for two years before losing the election for Student Body President his senior year to friend and future actor Paul Rudd. Tevis majored in Journalism at the University of Kansas. Subsequently, he worked as a journalist for The Palm Beach Post and The Miami Herald. He helped start an internet business in 1999 and worked for three years for the municipal government of the city of

Coconut Creek, Florida Coconut Creek is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. Situated north of Miami, it had a population of 57,833 in 2020. It is part of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city seceded from ...

. He worked as an

interaction designer Interaction design, often abbreviated as IxD, is "the practice of designing interactive digital products, environments, systems, and services." Beyond the digital aspect, interaction design is also useful when creating physical (non-digital) produ ...

for Cerner Corporation, a healthcare IT company headquartered in Kansas City. , he works as a design lead for Epiq, a legal services company in Kansas City.

Political career

2008 campaign for Kansas House of Representatives

In 2008, Tevis was the Democratic candidate in the 15th district of the Kansas House of Representatives, challenging incumbent Arlen H. Siegfreid. Tevis drew national headlines for an unorthodox advertising campaign based on the web-comic xkcd, which resulted in donations totaling more than $100,000 from more than 5,000 online donors. At the time, this was significantly more than any other candidate for the Kansas House of Representatives had ever raised, with the next highest total being that of fellow Democrat

Raj Goyle Rajeev Kumar Goyle (born June 9, 1975) is a Democratic politician from Kansas, who represented the 87th District in the Kansas House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011. He was the 2010 Democratic nominee for . Early life, education and caree ...

with $96,104. Tevis's platform included abolishing the sales tax on food, raising teacher pay, and protecting an individual's right to privacy. In the heavily Republican district, Tevis lost the race by 425 votes out of 10,103 cast. Possibly in reaction to Tevis's fund-raising tactic, Kansas State Representative Scott Schwab introduced a bill that was nicknamed the "Sean Tevis bill" which would have required candidates to report the names and addresses of contributors who give less than $50 to a political campaign.

2010 Congressional race

In 2010, Tevis ran for Congress. Tevis announced that he had an idea that could "reduce the effects of special interests...and end unhealthy partisanship."Klepper, David
"Kansas Democrat Sean Tevis kicks off bid for seat in Congress"
. '' The Kansas City Star''. June 22, 2010. In the Democratic primary on August 3, 2010, Tevis came in third with 20% of the vote, thus ending his campaign.

References

External links

Sean Tevis campaign websiteSean Tevis fundraising cartoonProfile about Sean Tevis
in The Wall Street Journal {{DEFAULTSORT:Tevis, Sean 1969 births Living people Kansas Democrats University of Kansas alumni