Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
member of the
Kansas Senate
The Kansas Senate is the upper house of the Kansas Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. State of Kansas. It is composed of 40 senators elected from single-member districts, each with a population of at least 60,000 inhabitants. Members ...
, representing the
8th district
8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9.
In mathematics
8 is:
* a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2.
* a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of the ...
from 2008 to 2013. He was a representative for the 19th district in the
Kansas House of Representatives
The Kansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. Composed of 125 state representatives from districts with roughly equal populations of at least 19,000, its members are responsible for craftin ...
from 2002 until his election as senator. From 1981 to 2005, he served as a council member for the Overland Park City Council, 3rd District. An attorney, he is married with 2 children.
Disagreement with Conservative Republicans
Senator Owens made national news as a leading liberal-Republican in the Kansas Senate, blocking the state's Health Care Freedom Amendment, an effort to push back parts of the Affordable Care Act. He also argued that judges should be selected by a committee of lawyers rather than the governor. As a consequence of their independence, Owens and seven other moderates were targeted for primary defeats by
Koch Industries
Koch Industries, Inc. ( ) is an American privately held multinational conglomerate corporation based in Wichita, Kansas and is the second-largest privately held company in the United States, after Cargill. Its subsidiaries are involved in th ...
. He and five others were defeated. Owens and five others were defeated, though two years later, the public voted replacements down. In 2018, Owens was the campaign treasurer for Kansas independent candidate
Greg Orman
Gregory John Orman (born December 2, 1968) is an American politician, businessman, and entrepreneur. He ran as an independent to represent Kansas in the United States Senate in the 2014 election, earning 42.5 percent of the vote and losing to i ...
, but he stepped down on October 30, after conceding that only moderate democrat
Laura Kelly
Laura Jeanne Kelly (born January 24, 1950)"Laura Kelly," ''Kansapedia,'' could beat anti-immigrant Republican
Kris Kobach
Kris William Kobach ( ; born March 26, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician who is the Attorney General of Kansas. He previously served as the 31st Secretary of State of Kansas. A former Chairman of the Kansas Republican Party, Kobach came ...
.
Committee assignments
Owens served on these Senate legislative committees:
* Judiciary (chair)
* Confirmation Oversight
* Joint Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice Oversight
* Education
* Federal and State Affairs
* Joint Committee on Kansas Security
Major Donors
Some of the top contributors to Owens's 2008 campaign, according to the ''National Institute on Money in State Politics'':Tim Owens 2008 campaign contributions /ref>
: Kansas Republican Senatorial Committee, Hallmark Cards, Kansas Contractors Association, Kansas Association of Realtors, Kansas Medical Society, and others
Finance, insurance, and real estate companies were his largest donor group.
Elections
2008
Running for an open senate seat, Owens defeated fellow House member
Benjamin Hodge Benjamin Hodge may refer to:
* Benjamin Hodge (Desperate Housewives)
''Desperate Housewives'' is an American comedy-drama series that aired on ABC (American Broadcasting Company). It focuses on the residents living on the fictional Wisteria Lan ...
in the Republican primary and Democrat Judy Macy in the general election.
2012
In the 2012 Republican primary, Owens lost to former Johnson county Sheriff,
Jim Denning
Jim Denning (born August 13, 1956), is a former Republican member of the Kansas Senate, representing the 8th district from 2013 to 2021.
Early life
On August 13, 1956, Denning was born in Great Bend, Kansas. Denning's father was Paul Denning, ...