Brandon Woodard is an American politician and Co-Vice Chair of the Kansas Future Caucus currently serving in the

Kansas House of Representatives The Kansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. Composed of 125 state representatives from districts with roughly equal populations of at least 19,000, its members are responsible for craftin ...

, representing the 30th House District as a member of the Democratic Party. Woodard was elected House Minority Leader in December 2024. Openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

, he was elected alongside

Susan Ruiz Susan Ruiz is an American politician, who was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives in the 2018 elections. She represents the 23rd House District as a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. Openly lesbian, sh ...

as one of the state's first-ever

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

state legislators. During the campaign, he weathered a controversy when it was revealed that he had previously spent five days in jail for a second offense of

driving under the influence Driving under the influence (DUI) is the crime of driving, operating, or being in control of a vehicle while one is impaired from doing so safely by the effect of either alcohol (drug), alcohol (see drunk driving) or some other drug, whether re ...

. He has been the Ranking Minority Member of the House Higher Education Budget Committee since January 2020, succeeding Democrat

Brandon Whipple Brandon Whipple (born July 13, 1982) is an American politician and academic who formerly served as mayor of Wichita, Kansas. He previously served as a Democratic Party member of the Kansas House of Representatives representing the 96th district, ...

, who left the

after being elected Mayor of

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

. 2019-2020 House Committee Assignments *Ranking Minority Member of Higher Education Budget (2020) *Federal and State Affairs *Insurance *Member of Higher Education Budget (2019)

References

External links

* 1990 births 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century members of the Kansas Legislature American gay politicians Democratic Party members of the Kansas House of Representatives LGBTQ state legislators in Kansas Living people People from Lenexa, Kansas University of Kansas alumni {{Kansas-politician-stub