Steve Abrams (born September 4, 1949) is an American politician who served as the Kansas State Senator from the 32nd district from 2009 until 2017. He previously served as chairman the

Kansas Republican Party The Kansas Republican Party is the state affiliate political party in Kansas of the United States Republican Party. The Kansas Republican Party was organized in May 1859. At the state level, the party is largely split between its moderate and co ...

from 1998 to 1999. A former member of the Board of Education for Unified School District 470 in

Arkansas City, Kansas Arkansas City () is a city in Cowley County, Kansas, United States, situated at the confluence of the Arkansas and Walnut rivers in the southwestern part of the county. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 11,974. Pronunc ...

, he was elected as a member of the Kansas State Board of Education in 1995, representing District 10. He served as chairman for the Kansas State Board of Education from 2005 to 2007. In 2009, he became the Kansas State Senator for District 32. Reelected without Democratic opposition in 2012, by narrowly winning the Republican primary over Miranda Allen by 461 votes, he chose not to run for reelection in 2016. He was replaced by Larry Alley, who had lost House District 78 races to Democrat Ed Trimmer in 2012 as an Independent, as well as narrowly in 2014 as a Republican. The conservative

Americans for Prosperity Americans for Prosperity (AFP), founded in 2004, is a Libertarian conservatism, libertarian conservative political advocacy group in the United States affiliated with brothers Charles Koch and the late David Koch. As the Koch family's primary pol ...

, Kansas Chapter, gave him a 100% evaluation on spending, budget and taxes in 2010.

Biographical information

Abrams was born in and is a resident of

. He is married. He has a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant coll ...

and has been a veterinarian since 1978.

Religious beliefs

Abrams believes that the Earth is about 10,000 years old. Abrams also believes that the biblical account of Genesis is factually literal and in the historicity of the Old and New Testaments. He supports the anti-evolutionist

Creationist Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation, and is often pseudoscientific. Gunn 2004, p. 9, "The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary' ...

and

Intelligent Design Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins".#Numbers 2006, Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for it ...

views of man's origins. Abrams is also a member of the Family Life Services

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its Abortion by country, legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in r ...

Crisis pregnancy center A crisis pregnancy center (CPC), sometimes called a pregnancy resource center (PRC) or a pro-life pregnancy center, is a type of nonprofit organization established by anti-abortion movement in the United States, anti-abortion groups primarily to ...

", in Arkansas City, Kansas.

Gun ownership issues

Abrams has received an "A" grade from the

NRA Political Victory Fund The Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF) is the political action committee (PAC) of the National Rifle Association of America (NRA). Founded in 1976, the Fund endorses political candidates on behalf of the NRA and contributes money to those candidate's ...

. The highest grade they give is an "A+".

Committees

* Education (chair) * Assessment and Taxation * Agriculture

Kansas State Board of Education

While serving as chairman of the Kansas State Board of Education in 2005, Abrams supported the adoption of standards that would bring into question the theory of evolution, the preferred one being Creation or "Intelligent Design". His tenure included the hiring of controversial Education Commissioner Bob Corkins, a former Koch think tank director whom the

Topeka Capital Journal ''The Topeka Capital-Journal'' is a daily newspaper in Topeka, Kansas, owned by Gannett. History The paper was formed following numerous name changes and mergers, including the merger of ''The Topeka Daily Capital'' and ''The Topeka State Jou ...

noted "didn't bring...any education credentials whatsoever," to the position. Republican state Sen.

John Vratil John Vratil (October 28, 1945) is a former Republican 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 ...

, characterized Corkins' hiring as education commissioner as "sort of like making Saddam Hussein president of the United States." The executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, Paul Houston, had written a letter referring to Corkins as an "amateur."

Political campaign financing

During the Kansas State Senate election campaign of 2008, the Abrams Campaign collected a total of $42,191. His Democratic (incumbent) opponent Winfield's Greta Goodwin, lost the race despite having campaign funds of $78,528. Some of the top contributors to Abrams's 2008 campaign included the Kansas Republican Senatorial Committee, the Fourth (Congressional) District Republican Committee, the

and the

Koch Industries Koch, Inc. () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation based in Wichita, Kansas, and is the second-largest privately held company in the United States, after Cargill. Its subsidiarie ...

was a supporter of Abrams. Koch Industries donated $2,000, the maximum that was legally allowed at the time from an individual, company or organization. Political parties are able to donate larger amounts to their own candidates. Koch Industries also donated to the Kansas Republican Senatorial Committee and the Kansas Republican Party which in turn donated to the Abrams campaign.

References

External links

Kansas Senate BiographyProject Vote Smart profile
* Campaign contributions
2008

Abrams's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abrams, Steve Republican Party Kansas state senators Living people 1949 births School board members in Kansas 21st-century members of the Kansas Legislature Kansas State University alumni