Wichita LGBTQ advocate wins Kansas House seat

Wichita LGBTQ advocate Elle Abigail Boatman was selected Thursday night to finish the term of Rep. Silas Miller in state House District 86.

Eight Democratic precinct committee members from District 86, in southeast Wichita, voted at a small convention at the Dr. Ronald W. Walters Library to pick a replacement for Miller.

Miller’s seat opened up when he was chosen last month to replace Mary Ware in the Kansas Senate. Ware retired in November because of health issues and other reasons, she said.

Boatman, an Air Force veteran and court transcriptionist who goes by “Abi,” won 6-2. She will be the second openly transgender Kansas lawmaker in the state’s history in the same district — 86 — where Stephanie Byers served from 2021 to 2023.

Although much of her activism has centered on state and local LGBTQ issues, Boatman said that won’t be her sole focus in Topeka.

“Many of you may know or recognize me from my LGBTQ advocacy, but I want to assure you that I am more than a cause, and I am far from a single-issue candidate,” Boatman said.

“District 86 is solidly a working class district,” Boatman said. “And as such, it deserves working class representation. One of the best ways I feel to advocate for working families is by protecting public education.”

Boatman said she’s against a partisan political takeover of the state Supreme Court, which effectively blocked major cuts to public schools funding from 2014 to 2024.

“Another effective way, I believe, of advocating for working families is by advocating for accessible and affordable health care, including Medicaid expansion,” Boatman said.

Jane Byrnes, a former adjunct instructor at Wichita State who has been involved in several city initiatives such as the Sustainability Board and Bike Walk Wichita, received two votes.

Boatman will serve the remainder of Miller’s term and said she plans to run for the office later this year.

“While I am in Topeka, what I want to focus on is not just learning the job and absorbing everything that I can while I’m up there, in addition to focusing on fundraising so that I’m ready to hit the ground running come campaign season,” she said. “I know how much hard work it takes to run not just a good campaign, but a successful one.”

Christina Hoheisel, a precinct committeewoman in House District 86, said she supported Boatman because she trusts her to represent her constituents. “There’s going to be a lot of sitting and listening,” Hoheisel said. “Abi does listen, and that is something that is really important, I find, in the state of politics. We speak a lot, we don’t always listen, and that’s something I value within the political climate.”