The FFRF Action Fund is pleased to endorse Kansas state Rep. Abi Boatman in her reelection campaign for House District 86.
Boatman was elected to the vacant seat in January by a 6-2 vote by Democratic precinct committee members from District 86, after state Rep. Silas Miller was chosen to fill a seat in the Kansas Senate. She became the second openly transgender state lawmaker in Kansas’ history. The district is safely blue.
Boatman is openly nonreligious. While in session, she voted against tax credits for private, almost exclusively Christian schools and against legislation prioritizing unregulated, religion-based “crisis pregnancy centers” that dissuade women from abortion care. She also opposed efforts to align school sports schedules with a Christian calendar. Bills to institute school chaplains and to restrict mental health counseling by school counselors were not approved by the Kansas Legislature last session, and Boatman will be an ally in ensuring that any similar future legislation is blocked.
Boatman’s Republican opponent is running a faith-based campaign rooted in Christian, so-called foundational values. His campaign website states that he is “guided by a Biblical worldview and an unshakeable commitment to traditional values.” His only endorsement is from a pro-life organization.
Boatman asserts that she will always support legislation that opposes any agenda to coerce people into adhering to religious dogma. She pledges to continue working to halt and reverse tax credits for religious private schools, advance legislation that prioritizes bodily autonomy and preserve evidence-based mental health services for students when reelected. Boatman is also on the Kansas House Education Committee and would be a valuable aid in advancing FFRF Action Fund’s model legislation to protect public school students’ secular rights.
The FFRF Action Fund joins the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, Moms Demand Action, the Kansas National Education Association, New Politics and others in endorsing Boatman.