Republican Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and Lieutenant Governor Jeff Colyer have officially started their campaign for a second term.
The two were joined at a kickoff event by their campaign co-chairs, former Senator Bob Dole and Mary Eisenhower, granddaughter of Dwight Eisenhower.
At the kick-off event, Gov. Brownback said his economic policies and the tax cuts he helped pass promoted job growth and helped build a significant financial cushion in the state budget.
"It's a good time to be us, as we show the county a proven path out of decline and a way to be America again. Kansas is a lighthouse in a nation that's lost its way," Brownback said.
Former Republican Kansas Senator Bob Dole remembered meeting Brownback when the governor was a young member of Future Farmers of America.
"And I knew then that there was a leadership quality about Sam and that he was destined for greater things," says Dole.
The likely Democratic candidate in November, Paul Davis, has taken issue with the governor's fiscal policies. Davis says Kansas is pulling out of the economic downturn more slowly than some other states. Democrats also argue that the tax cuts could lead to state budget shortfalls in the coming years.
Gov. Brownback faces a challenger in the August Republican primary election, Wichita landscaping business owner Jennifer Winn.
