David B. Haley (born October 29, 1958) is a Democratic member of the

Kansas Senate The Kansas Senate is the upper house of the Kansas Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. State of Kansas. It is composed of 40 senators elected from single-member districts, each with a population of about 73,000 inhabitants. Members o ...

, representing the 4th district (

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City (commonly known as KCK) is the third-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As ...

/ eastern Wyandotte County) since 2001. From 1995 to 2001, he was a Kansas Representative. He ran unsuccessfully for Kansas Secretary of State in 2002 and 2006. Haley (by 2023), became the longest-serving member currently in the Kansas Senate.Carpenter, Tim
"Longest-serving members of Kansas Legislature talk about career, race and partisan politics: Sen. David Haley and Rep. Barbara Ballard examine forces driving them through three decades in the state House and Senate,"
January 23, 2023, '' Kansas Reflector,'' retrieved February 4, 2025 As of February, 2025, he remains in office."Senator David Haley,"
2025, Kansas Legislature official website, retrieved February 3, 2025 He is the son of politician George W. Haley and nephew of

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

winner

Alex Haley Alexander Murray Palmer Haley (August 11, 1921 – February 10, 1992) was an American writer and the author of the 1976 book '' Roots: The Saga of an American Family.'' ABC adapted the book as a television miniseries of the same name and ...

Early life and education

Hayley was raised in Wyandotte County, Kansas (part of metropolitan Kansas City, Kansas). Haley's father, George W. Haley, was one of Kansas' first

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

state legislators -- the first African-American ever elected to the Kansas Senate -- and in the 1990s and early 2000s, the U.S. Ambassador to The

Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

. His his mother, Doris, was a schoolteacher. Hayley's uncle was

winner,

(author of the influential African-American historical novel ''

Roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusin ...

'' and its associated historic TV mini-series, and co-author of '' The Autobiography of Malcolm X).'' The younger Haley attended his father's

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

Morehouse College Morehouse College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Men's colleges in the United States, men's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. He later graduated from

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

law school in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, before returning to Wyandotte County.

Political career

Haley first ran for a seat in the Kansas House of Representatives in 1994. When he won the primary election for that seat, the incumbent resigned and Haley was appointed to fill out his predecessor's term. Haley won the general election for that seat, and continued in the House until elected to the Senate in 2001. Haley represents the 4th Kansas Senate District. Both his House and Senate districts have been in demographically-diverse (largely African-American) Wyandotte County, in the metropolitan Kansas City area. The district is one of one of state's the poorest districts (16% of the county's residents live in poverty), and one of the most diverse -- racially and ethnically -- in Kansas. Residents are 43% Black, 37% white, and about 24%

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

. In February, 2025, Haley was the subject of intense political attention, when he threatened to become the lone Democrat to vote with Republicans to provide a crucial swing vote to override Governor

Laura Kelly Laura Jeanne Kelly (born January 24, 1950)"Laura Kelly,"
''Kansapedia,'' Kansas H ...

's veto of a controversial

flat tax A flat tax (short for flat-rate tax) is a tax with a single rate on the taxable amount, after accounting for any deductions or exemptions from the tax base. It is not necessarily a fully proportional tax. Implementations are often progressi ...

bill, which had been passed by the Senate's large Republican majority. Haley explained that, for his low-income district, which had seen little infusion of tax dollars by either Republicans, or by Democrat governors, the bill (which included exemptions for personal income under $6,000) neither hurt nor helped his district. Seen as a power-play, his position on the issue generated great pressure on him from both parties, each side threatening retribution for an opposing vote.Shorman, Jonathan; and Katie Bernard
"KCK Democrat may break with Gov. Kelly and support GOP tax cuts. 'What’s my incentive?,'"
February 5, 2024, ''

Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and a ...

,'' retrieved February 4, 2025

Issue positions

Haley has advocated for criminal justice reforms (including abolition of the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

), the legalization of

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

, and constantly urged increased investment in eastern Wyandotte County.

References

External links

Kansas State Senate WebsiteProject Vote Smart Bio
* Campaign Contributions
2008200620042002200019981996
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haley, David African-American state legislators in Kansas Democratic Party Kansas state senators Democratic Party members of the Kansas House of Representatives Politicians from Kansas City, Kansas 1958 births Living people 21st-century members of the Kansas Legislature Morehouse College alumni Howard University alumni 20th-century African-American politicians 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century members of the Kansas Legislature