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 representing an equal amount of districts, each with a population of at least 60,000 inhabitants. Members of the Senate are elected to a four-year term. There is no limit to the number of terms that a senator may serve.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Campaign Phone
785-409-1225
Personal Biography
Dena has a long and successful record of service at the local, state and federal levels. With service in the U.S. armed forces and as a career journalist, Sattler spent many years as a respected, award-winning newspaper editor and publisher in Kansas before serving the State of Kansas as Senior Director of Public Affairs for the Kansas Department of Commerce, and before that Director of Public Affairs for Governor Laura Kelly.
Education
Dena is a graduate of the University of Iowa, and completed five years of newspaper management training in Kansas before becoming a newspaper publisher in Garden City. She also is an honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. Army Reserve and National Guard.
Community/Public Service
Dena is a trustee for the Kansas Newspaper Foundation and the William Allen White Foundation at the University of Kansas. She also served as a board member for the Garden City Area Chamber of Commerce, Garden City Downtown Vision, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Finney and Kearny Counties, the Finney County Humane Society and Franklin County Habitat for Humanity. She currently is secretary of the Friends of Ted Ensley Gardens board of directors in Shawnee County.
I’ve devoted my career to community and public service as a longtime newspaper publisher in Kansas, as a public servant for Governor Kelly and Lieutenant Governor Toland, and also in my U.S. Army service. When elected, I’ll be the first woman with military service to serve in the Kansas Senate. Thanks to my work in newspapers, state government and my time in the military, I will bring a unique skill set and perspective to the Kansas Senate and the Legislature — and am especially ready to pursue transparency and open discussion and debate that’s been lacking in the Statehouse.
1. Defending our freedoms under attack, from our freedom to make our own personal medical decisions to our freedom to vote. I’ll be a strong voice in opposing the extreme-right Republican overreach that’s undermining those freedoms in Kansas. 2. Expanding access to affordable healthcare (particularly Medicaid expansion), affordable housing and affordable childcare. I’ll support commonsense legislation that makes Kansas an even better place for families and businesses. 3. Fully fund and protect our public schools. I’ll be a vocal opponent of school vouchers and other extreme-right schemes designed to divert taxpayer dollars from public schools to private, for-profit schools with no accountability.
First, we need to break the Republican supermajority in the Legislature that's allowed GOP legislative leaders to avoid bringing issues to the floor for open discussion and debate — which cheats the people of Kansas out of the opportunity to better understand issues and policymaking. Extreme-right legislators in charge also are fast-tracking bills to keep the public and fellow lawmakers in the dark. I would support efforts to rein in these practices, including the "Gut and Go" maneuver that is deliberately deceiving and self-serving.
The focus in Kansas needs to be on ways to make it easier to vote, not discourage voting as has been the case since ultraconservatives ramped up efforts in recent years to disenfranchise senior citizens, minorities, the disabled, rural residents and others by making it more difficult to cast ballots. Discussion and changes should address ways to encourage more, not less participation at the polls while still maintaining the election security we have in Kansas.
