GOP gains seats in state House

Republicans picked up at least three state House seats locally, and three others were unsettled late Tuesday.

Longtime state legislator Dale Swenson, a Democrat, lost in his 97th District race against Republican challenger Leslie Osterman.

Republican challenger Benny Boman won against state Rep. Melany Barnes, a Democrat, in District 95.

And in the race to replace state Rep. Raj. Goyle in District 87, Republican Joseph Scapa won over Democrat Om Chauhan.

Republicans kept the only other open seat, in Derby's District 82.

Two Democratic incumbents were locked in close races late Tuesday: Ed Trimmer with independent Larry Alley in District 78, and Vince Wetta with Republican Ellen Janoski in District 80.

District 97

Osterman won with about 58 percent of the vote in District 97.

Swenson had held the seat for 16 years; he switched from Republican to Democrat in January 2009.

When the two faced off in the 2000 House race, Osterman ran as a Democrat. Swenson beat Osterman 67 percent to 33 percent.

Osterman, elected to public office for the first time, said he attributed his win to "just hard work. I had a lot of good volunteers that walked with me and knocked doors."

It also didn't hurt that he is a Republican at a time when Democrats seem to be out of favor, he said.

"I believe less government will turn our economy around," said Osterman, who is retired from the Navy. "People in Wichita are hurting for jobs."

Swenson said of his loss: "Democrats stayed home and didn't vote."

Also, Swenson said, there seemed to be a wave of voting against Democrats.

Earlier Tuesday, the Kansas Democratic Party called for the Sedgwick County District Attorney's Office to investigate whether election bribery laws were broken when a coupon for a free meal at Mike's Steakhouse was included in literature for Osterman.

Osterman said he was blindsided by the allegations.

"This caught me by total surprise," he said. "I knew nothing about it.... I did not authorize any coupon to go in any of my literature whatsoever."

Swenson said he thought the coupons constituted a clear violation of election law.

District 95

Boman received about 52 percent of the vote in District 95.

Barnes, 54, was appointed to the seat a year ago to replace Tom Sawyer, who resigned to serve on the Kansas Parole Board. She earlier served two terms in the seat, from 1999 to 2002. Boman, 75, had sought the seat before. He said he was running to save a future for his grandchildren. He advocates cutting taxes and freezing spending and state hiring.

District 82

Republican Jim Howell won three-quarters of the vote over Democrat Lee Kinch in the race to replace retiring state Rep. Don Myers in District 82, in Derby.

"We're tired of the tax-and-spend government that we are under now, and we want to see more responsible government," said Howell, 46. The two main issues that voters want addressed, he said, are government spending and jobs.

The District 82 seat has been held by Republicans for 27 years.

Howell is an Air Force veteran who works at Boeing Co. It was his first time running for office.

District 87

Scapa won the race to replace Goyle, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress.

Scapa had 66 percent of the vote.

He attributed his win to hard work and "a lot of people who are very angry with the way things are going. That's probably the biggest thing ... people being angry with spending money we don't have."

It is Scapa's first time to be elected to public office.

A pillar of his political philosophy is that the size of government should be reduced. That includes reducing taxes for businesses and citizens, particularly the temporary sales tax increase passed earlier this year.

"I won't vote for new taxes or new tax increases," he said Tuesday night. "That's something I campaigned on. ... They're tired of us spending money we don't have. The taxes are killing our businesses and killing our jobs."

District 98

Democratic incumbent Geraldine Flaharty collected 51 percent of the vote to Republican James Clendenin's 44 percent.

"We got steamrolled," she said of the Democrats. "But I'll stand up for what I believe in, even if it's 124 to one."

Clendenin said late in the evening that he was not yet ready to concede, saying he thought there were still some advance ballots that had not been counted yet.

This story was originally published November 3, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "GOP gains seats in state House."