Jo Ann Roth Runs for House 113th
Jo Ann Roth has entered the Democratic primary as a candidate for Kansas State Representative from the 113th District which includes parts of Barton, Pawnee, and all of Rice, Stafford and Rush Counties.
A Lifetime of Service and Leadership
Jo Ann Roth at the Secretary of State office, signing her filing papers to run for the Kansas House, 113th District. (courtesy of the campaign)
Jo Ann and her husband Kent Roth reside in the Roth family home located in Ellinwood which was built by Kent’s parents, Walter and June Roth, in 1939.
Jo Ann cites as one of her chief reasons for being active in politics is her conviction that we should not accept an increase in maternal deaths due to politicians denying women bodily autonomy. JoAnn and Kent experienced infertility issues and adopted two (2) children, now adults. Many women have shared with her their own stories of miscarriage, ectopic pregnancies and infertility. Her core belief is equal rights for all - special privileges for none. Every Patient -- in consultation with their Doctor should make their own medical decisions, not Politicians in Topeka based on whether the patient is a man or a woman.
She was employed by the federal government in the United States Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency (FSA), for a dozen years in Barton County, Kansas. She was then elected three (3) terms to the three (3) member Barton County Committee that oversees the local FSA Office and rules upon any farmer appeals. Following 9/11, she went to work with the Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, (TSA), until her federal retirement. Upon retirement, she was free to engage actively in Democratic Politics and currently serves as the Barton County Democratic Party Chair.
Jo Ann ran for this same seat in 2022. Jo Ann said that the saying: “if at first you don't succeed, try, try again?” has crossed her mind. “When it comes to women being treated equally; I will never surrender nor will I ever give up.”
Jo Ann has been active in leadership activities, having been a member of the Kansas Agriculture & Rural Leadership (KARL IV) class of 1998-99, touring Kansas Industries and traveling to Washington DC and South America, Chili & Argentina. She is currently a member of Kansas Farm Bureau.
Family Is Central to Jo Ann’s Story
Jo Ann grew up on a farm north of Cheyenne Bottoms. She is the daughter of Bob and Bonnie Wirth. Her Dad was a full time farmer and part time Union Carpenter - a commitment to Labor that Jo Ann continued - having been a member of a Labor Union like her Father and Grandfather while working for the Federal Government.
Adoption has been a part of her family’s story for over a 100 years.
Her maternal Grandfather, George Walter, immigrated to this country as the Bolshevik Revolution came to a bloody end in Russia. George Walter grew up in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, near the seaport of Odessa. He became a member of the Czar’s White Guard at 15 years of age and was wounded during World War I - then continuing on to fight in the White Army during the Czar’s final days.
As the Red Army took control, an older sibling made it possible for 19 year old George Walter to travel by ship from the port of Odessa to Tunisia. From there he made his way to Hoisington, Kansas with the help of a sponsor family, the Peter Brack family of Otis. In Hoisington, George worked for the Missouri Pacific Railroad, where he met Jo Ann’s grandmother who had been abandoned with three (3) young children by her first husband. The rest, they say, is history.
Jo Ann relates that after her grandfather retired, he confided in her that he was always worried that the Bolsheviks might come over to this country to harm him and his family. Jo Ann learned from her Grandfather, Freedom is never free; one must be willing to make sacrifices to keep his or her personal freedoms.
Fighting for Health Care and Personal Autonomy in the 113th
The People of Kansas voted overwhelmingly in August 2022 to keep personal autonomy, the right to control one’s own body, a constitutional right in Kansas.
The Republican Incumbent for the 113th recently emailed that a woman in a crisis pregnancy carrying a baby which cannot survive outside the womb should be required to undergo a C section delivery. Clearly, imposing this belief upon women in Kansas will lead to an increase in maternal deaths.
Jo Ann clearly equates denying medical care until the patient is near death or mandating a surgical procedure such as a Cesarean section to violence against women. “This is the Incumbent’s belief even though in 2022, Kansans clearly voted to protect reproductive rights in our State Constitution. The 59% of the voters who rejected the Constitutional Amendment are my example of Democracy in Action. Legislators like the Incumbent who refuse to listen should be voted out of office.”
Jo Ann looks to Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address for guidance. About a month before Southern troops fired the first shots of the Civil War on the federal garrison at Fort Sumter, Lincoln said “A majority … is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it, does of necessity, fly to anarchy or despotism.”
To her, the modern day translation of President Lincoln’s quote is --- “Beware of Politicians who claim Majority Rule as a value, but only when they are in the majority.”
For more information on Jo Ann Roth’s candidacy, see her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/joannrothforstaterepresentative/
Post authorized by the Barton County Democratic Party. Informational content courtesy of “Jo Ann Roth for State Representative, 113th District” - Kent Roth, Treasurer