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Ron Highland

Republican Party

Prior offices:

Kansas House of Representatives District 51

Years in office: 2013 - 2023

Successor:Kenny Titus (R)

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 3, 2020

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Personal website

Personal Facebook

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Ron Highland (Republican Party) was a member of theKansas House of Representatives, representingDistrict 51. He assumed office on January 14, 2013. He left office on January 9, 2023.

Highland (Republican Party) ran for re-election to theKansas House of Representatives to representDistrict 51. He won in the general election onNovember 3, 2020.

Biography

Ron Highland was born inBrewster, Kansas. Highland served in the infantry in Korea as a platoon leader and then as a captain in the Army Veterinary Corps. He earned a bachelor of science, a doctor of veterinary medicine, and a Ph.D. from Kansas State University. Highland’s career experience includes working in research and development with Bayer Animal Health. He has been a member of Sertoma, Rotary, VFW, Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Lutherans for Life, and Kansans for Life.^[1]

Committee assignments

2021-2022

Highland was assigned to the following committees:

• Rules and Journal Committee
• Taxation Committee
• Water Committee,Chair
• Commerce, Labor and Economic Development Committee

2019-2020

Highland was assigned to the following committees:

• Administrative Rules and Regulations Committee,Chair
• Commerce, Labor and Economic Development Committee
• Agriculture Committee,Chair
• Rules and Journal Committee
• Rural Revitalization Committee (decommissioned)

2017 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Highland served on the following committees:

2013-2014

At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Highland served on the following committees:

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according toBillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2022

See also:Kansas House of Representatives elections, 2022

Ron Highland did not file to run for re-election.

2020

See also: Kansas House of Representatives elections, 2020

General election

General election for Kansas House of Representatives District 51

IncumbentRon Highland won election in the general election for Kansas House of Representatives District 51 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ron Highland (R)	100.0	11,368

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 11,368
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Kansas House of Representatives District 51

IncumbentRon Highland defeatedGary Schuetz in the Republican primary for Kansas House of Representatives District 51 on August 4, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ron Highland	71.5	3,814
	Submit photo	Gary Schuetz	28.5	1,520

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 5,334
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

2018

See also: Kansas House of Representatives elections, 2018

General election

General election for Kansas House of Representatives District 51

IncumbentRon Highland defeatedNoah Wright in the general election for Kansas House of Representatives District 51 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ron Highland (R)	64.6	6,582
	Submit photo	Noah Wright (D)	35.4	3,603

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 10,185
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Kansas House of Representatives District 51

Noah Wright advanced from the Democratic primary for Kansas House of Representatives District 51 on August 7, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Noah Wright	100.0	851

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 851
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Kansas House of Representatives District 51

IncumbentRon Highland advanced from the Republican primary for Kansas House of Representatives District 51 on August 7, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ron Highland	100.0	3,297

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,297
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

2016

See also:Kansas House of Representatives elections, 2016

Elections for theKansas House of Representatives were held in2016. The primary election was held on August 2, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was June 1, 2016.

IncumbentRon Highland defeatedAdrienne Olejnik in the Kansas House of Representatives District 51 general election.^[2][3]

Kansas House of Representatives, District 51 General Election, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Ron HighlandIncumbent	51.93%	5,783
	Democratic	Adrienne Olejnik	48.07%	5,354
Total Votes				11,137
Source:Kansas Secretary of State

Adrienne Olejnik ran unopposed in the Kansas House of Representatives District 51 Democratic primary.^[4][5]

Kansas House of Representatives, District 51 Democratic Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate
	Democratic	Adrienne Olejnik (unopposed)

IncumbentRon Highland ran unopposed in the Kansas House of Representatives District 51 Republican primary.^[4][5]

Kansas House of Representatives, District 51 Republican Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate
	Republican	Ron HighlandIncumbent (unopposed)

2014

See also:Kansas House of Representatives elections, 2014

Elections for theKansas House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election was held on August 5, 2014, and a general election was held onNovember 4, 2014. Thesignature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was June 2, 2014. IncumbentRon Highland was unopposed in the Republican primary and was unopposed in the general election.^[6][7]

2012

See also:Kansas House of Representatives elections, 2012

Highland won election in the2012 election forKansas House of Representatives District 51. Highland defeatedDee McKee andKeen A. Umbehr in the August 7 Republican primary and defeatedRichard Pikul (D) in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.^[8]

Kansas House of Representatives, District 51, General Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Ron Highland	70%	6,761
	Democratic	Richard Pikul	30%	2,899
Total Votes				9,660

Kansas House of Representatives, District 51 Republican Primary, 2012

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Ron Highland	45.2%	1,499
Dee McKee	31.6%	1,048
Keen A. Umbehr	23.2%	771
Total Votes		3,318

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also:Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Ron Highland did not completeBallotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf.Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at theFEC website. Clickhere for more on federal campaign finance law andhere for more on state campaign finance law.

Scorecards

See also:State legislative scorecards andState legislative scorecards in Kansas

Ascorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of Kansas scorecards, email suggestions toeditor@ballotpedia.org.

2022

In 2022, theKansas State Legislature was in session from January 10 to May 23.

• Kansas Family Voice

Legislators are scored on their votes on a variety of issues of interest to the organization.

• Kansas Policy Institute

Legislators are scored on their support for bills that the organization lists as promoting "individual liberty, limited government, free markets and student-focused education."

• MainStream Coalition

Legislators are scored by the MainStream Coalition on whether they voted with the moderate position on selected bills.

• National Federation of Independent Business

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.

• Wichita Chamber of Commerce

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

Personal

Note: Pleasecontact us if the personal information below requires an update.

Highland and his wife, Linda, have two children.^[9]

See also

2020 Elections

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Footnotes

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