Jim Sherow is challenging Rep. Tim Huelskamp to represent the 1st District of Kansas. The Democratic hopeful says Huelskamp has lost west Kansas’s influence in the House, especially on agricultural issues reported the Dodge City Daily Globe.
Sherow says Western Kansas not having a voice on the House Agriculture Committee is leadership failure.
"It's irresponsible to be so hard to get along with your own party tosses you off the ag committee," Sherow said, referring to Huelskamp losing his seat on that committee and the House Budget Committee for refusing to back House leadership over the debt limit and funding of the government.
Sherow says in order to get anything done; House members need to have allies.
"I'm not going to stand to the side and say, 'Here are my principles and I'm going to stand here until you work with me.' I am principled, but I'll get work done," Sherow said at recent gathering of residents alongside Kansas Secretary of State candidate Jean Schodorf in Dodge City, Kansas.
The future of west Kansas is in developing new ways to grow using less water, and to continue to tap into wind energy — and store and transport it through a "Smart Grid" — and continuing to manufacture goods and products for export, says Sherow.
Huelskamp, and the rest of the state's congressional delegation, voted against the Farm Bill, claiming it did not cut enough from the food stamps program. Sherow characterized that as a gamed vote.
Sherow has been a historian for 22 years at Kansas State University. He is also the former mayor of Manhattan.
More about the Democratic challenger can be found at the Dodge City Daily Globe.