Sen. Dinah Sykes’ Opening Day Speech for the 2025 Legislative Session

Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen of the Senate, staff, members of the press, and my fellow Kansans: we gather again to serve our neighbors as we start the 2025 legislative session. Mr. President, on behalf of the Senate Democratic caucus, congratulations on your re-election as President of the Kansas Senate. Congratulations to the other Senate Republicans representing your caucus in their positions of leadership.

To my fellow Democratic Senators: thank you for trusting me to lead the caucus over the next four years.  

Welcome to the new members of the Kansas Senate. I’m pleased to welcome our new Democratic Senator, Patrick Schmidt: we look forward to you joining in the proud tradition of service. Welcome to my new Republican colleagues. I look forward to learning your stories and understanding what motivates you to work together for all the people of Kansas.

To our families and friends joining us in person or watching online, thank you for your support. Thank you especially to my family for your love and support. Jeffrey, William, and Tyler: we’ve walked down this path together since my first run for office. I know the sacrifices we’ve all made to serve our neighbors. I’m deeply thankful for each of you. As a moment of personal pride, Congratulations to William for graduating from college (a semester early) this past December. 

Today, we celebrate the hard-working people of Kansas. We are a people who work hard to provide a better future for our children.  We are a people who believe in the opportunity for each of us to take our God-given talents and develop them to build a strong future for families and our communities. We are a people who, given a chance; take that opportunity and make a difference.

Like many other states in our great nation, we face challenges. While we work hard, often that hard work benefits shareholders and corporations leaving workers and their families behind. Senate Democrats support policies that generate good jobs that provide wages that allow families to get ahead. I look forward to collaborating on policies that reward workers and help them put food on the table and care for their families.

I’m proud of how Kansans understand that families thrive in communities. Kansans show up for each other.  We all know what it is like to help a neighbor. We cheer on each other’s kids. We celebrate the examples of leaders like President Jimmy Carter who embodied a faith that valued every person as neighbor: both close to home and across the world. He dedicated his life to making the United States live up to our ideals of justice and equality. 

Justice and equality is allowing every person the opportunity to meet their God-given potential. We know that starts with the very earliest days of each child’s life. Investing early in developing a child’s potential pays dividends for a lifetime. Our children are our most valuable resource.

Beyond those early days, Kansans understand the critical role education plays in our children’s lives. It is so important to us as a state that we put it in our constitution. We know the community pride we have around our public schools that are often the anchor of our communities. That importance isn’t a rural, urban, or even a suburban issue. As we look to support strong educational outcomes, we must choose policies that help every single Kansas child. 

We must support our educators and ensure they have what they need as they invest their lives in our children. We’ve worked to bring funding for education to constitutionally acceptable levels. That work is not yet finished. We must not turn back now, and we must fully fund special education.    

Together, those of us elected by voters, have an opportunity to address issues that make a real difference in people’s lives. We could be distracted by culture wars, but doing that only divides us. Kansans want us to partner together to make this state the best place to live, work, and raise a family.

Mr. President, my Senate colleagues, the issues Kansas faces are not red, or blue. We must honor the people who sent us here.They expect us to roll up our sleeves, check our egos at the door and work to make things better for all residents of our state. 

Senate Democrats are ready to set aside ideological agendas to serve the needs of every Kansan. We hope you will join us in that honest and honorable work.