With the support of family, friends and members of the Baker community, one of Baker’s own has announced she will be running for a seat in the U.S. Senate.

Lisa Johnston, assistant dean for student academic services, announced her decision after considering the move for the past several months.

“I am a lifelong Democrat and I’ve always been very interested in politics,” Johnston said. ” I’ve been working in higher education for the last 17 years and that’s very rewarding, but I’ve kind of been thinking about how I can get more involved in public service and help people at a broader level.”

Johnston will be running for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sam Brownback, who is running for governor. The other Democratic candidate is Charles Schollenberger, while Jerry Moran and Todd Tiahrt are the Republican candidates. Primaries will take place Aug. 3 and the general election Nov. 2.

Johnston applied for a one-year leave of absence from her position at Baker to focus on her campaign. Johnston said both Rand Ziegler, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and University President Pat Long met and approved her application.

“I was told by (Ziegler) that it has been officially approved,” Johnston said. “He and the president met about it and agreed they wanted to be supportive … it’s a huge responsibility and a great honor to be considered for something like that, so I was very pleased that they were supportive. ”

Ziegler said although he was surprised by Johnston’s move, he was excited for her.

“She’s very ambitious, she’s very goal-oriented, she’s very much a doer and a go-getter and has a high degree of enthusiasm and is very, very, very bright. So, of course that’s the United States Senate,” he said.

Johnston's husband, Kyle, is also excited for her decision to run for senate, but is showing support in a different way than most spouses do. <br/>Kyle is Johnston's campaign manager.Kyle is Johnston's campaign manager.
Kyle is Johnston’s campaign manager.

“I get to see both sides of it,” he said. “As the husband/campaign manager, we spend a lot of time together … we’re both all in it and it’s great to spend time together to do something like this that’s so important and going to impact so many lives.”

As campaign manager, Kyle manages Johnston’s Web site and social media activities and has been traveling around to events with her.

Johnston said having her husband as her campaign manager has been great.

“He’s been fantastic and really from day one has been encouraging me to do this and get involved,” she said. “It’s been fantastic to have him behind me.”

Kyle has enjoyed traveling around to events with Johnston and has had fun meeting people and supporting Johnston along the way.

“It’s something that we’ve talked about for a number of years and she’s always talked about it as something she thought about doing in the future, but the time just seemed right this year,” Kyle said. “All the pieces are falling into place and all our plans are coming together, so I’m really excited.”

Johnston said that while she has a lot of concerns, the issues she will be primarily focusing on will be jobs and the economy, education and access for voters to the political and legislative process.

While the economy has started moving in a positive direction, Johnston said she wants to ensure that momentum continues and that the economy keeps moving in a positive direction. She also wants to make sure education remains strong.

“Education … is a huge concern for me and I know that that is a significant concern for many people,” she said. “I think we have to look at strengthening both what we’re doing in K-12 and also looked at higher education.”

If elected, Johnston would receive the honor of being the first female democratic senator for the state of Kansas. However, although she said that distinction would be “nice,” it’s not what she’s looking forward to the most.

“I’m most looking forward to having an opportunity to hopefully make a difference and get involved and keep things moving in a positive direction,” Johnston said. “You need someone to come in from the outside and bring a fresh perspective, and that’s one of the things that I hope to do.”