Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate touts business background, integrity in fight for Kansas seat

Sandy Spidel Neumann is running on a crowded slate of Democrat candidates to flip U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall's seat blue. She touts an extensive business leadership resume that she says has been based on accountability, business principles and getting things done. (Photo by Morgan Chilson/Kansas Reflector)

TOPEKA — As a teenager, Sandy Spidel Neumann said someday she would become a U.S. Senator.

When she saw Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall walk out on a town hall after he was confronted by angry constituents, Neumann said she was motivated to run after a 40-year career in the financial services industry. She is now among eight candidates seeking the Democratic party’s nomination to challenge Marshall.

Her career at Ameriprise Financial Services prepared her to apply business principles, such as digging into data and laying out strategies before making a move, to a political role, Spidel Neumann said on the Kansas Reflector podcast.

Many decisions made on the national level aren’t strategic and well considered, such as the Iran war, she said.

“There doesn’t appear to be a strategic policy behind the war,” Spidel Neumann said. “There seems to be a lot of tactics. When you see press conferences, they’re talking about who sank whose battleship. It just seems like it’s more of — unfortunately — a children’s game to them than something that has actual strategic focus and then a plan to actually be executed upon.”

She pointed to loss of the Affordable Care Act’s premium tax credits in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act as another example of decisions that lacked forethought and failed to use data.

People on ACA saw healthcare costs jump as much as 30%, she said.

“Is the ACA the end-all, be-all? No, it’s not. But what we have now is data,” Spidel Neumann said. “We have 15 years, 20 years worth of data, so we can take a look at it and say, what’s working, what’s not working, fix the things that aren’t working, and then go about honoring the things that are working.”

The imposition of tariffs also lacked economic strategy, she said, and Kansas farmers were harmed by the negative effects.

“When you throw them on and take them off, it lacks stability, and markets require stability to actually thrive,” Spidel Neumann said. “It’s merely a grift. They’re communicating to their billionaire buddies in front of what they’re doing. They’re pocketing billions off of this.”

Tariffs closed off Chinese markets for Kansas farmers and increased the cost of inputs, which were exacerbated by the Iran war, she said.

Corruption and grift in politics must be addressed, she said. As she’s traveled the state, Spidel Neumann said, people want accountability. They want Democrats to fight, she said.

“Saying you’re someone’s worst enemy or whatnot, it doesn’t make you that,” Spidel Neumann said. “Believe me, I know how to fight. I fought with legal, a lot, in a corporate setting, because they wanted to be more conservative than I needed to be. I needed to be able to be compelling, to get things done and to deliver results that were reported to Wall Street quarterly.”

Finding points of commonality is part of the work and it also requires being forceful, she said.

“You have to fight, and you call them out,” she said. “You are compelling, and you are tough and you are fierce because you are fighting for the people of Kansas. It’s one thing if they come at me. Come at me, bring your best shot. You mess with my people, oh, I’ll take you down.”

 

Immigration

The country needs secure borders, but the way U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement is handling immigration policies right now is not the “American way,” Spidel Neumann said.

Getting rid of Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary was a good first move, she said. But ICE needs more accountability, training, body cameras and to have goals set not on the number of arrests but on charges that move forward in court.

“Charges means they would actually have a targeted list of who they were going after and what they need to do,” Spidel Neumann said. “Instead, they’re pulling random people out of restaurants, out of hospitals, out of different places, just because they know that by the color of their skin, which is abhorrent at best and should be illegal. And I’m so disappointed in our court, a Supreme Court, for them to allow that.”

 

Elections

Spidel Neumann said it is important for elections to be safe, but noted that data shows they are safe. She opposes “voter intimidation tactics” like having ICE officers at polling places, voter identification laws or eliminating mail-in voting.

Spidel Neumann referred to the August vote Kansans will make to decide whether to change how state Supreme Court judges are put in office. Right now, the nonpartisan Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission sends three qualified candidates to the governor, who makes the final selection. If Kansans approve a constitutional change, voters would determine who becomes a Supreme Court judge.

Spidel Neumann said that would mean more advertisements for judges and more “dark money” spent to get judges elected.

“It’s not about Supreme Court justices. It’s about controlling the courts, and controlling the courts means they’re coming at women’s healthcare, they’re coming at education funding, and they’re coming at voting rights,” she said, adding that all three of those are issues younger people care about.

 

Accountability

Spidel Neumann would like to see an enforceable code of conduct put in place across all three branches of government to hold them to integrity and transparency.

It’s going to take some time to rebuild trust in the United States around the world, she said.

“It’s horrific what they’re doing with respect to NATO and with respect to other strategic alliances that we have across the board,” Spidel Neumann said. “You’re only as good as your word, and unfortunately, the people who are representing the United States right now are not doing it with the best interests of the country and the world at heart.”

Integrity matters, she said, and it’s something she will bring to the job.

“There should be no insider trading in any of the branches,” Spidel Neumann said. “You do what’s right, for crying out loud.”

Things need to change, she said, and that’s why she chose to run.

“We need to get to a place where it’s not loyalty to a human being,” she said. “We need to adhere to our oath of office, be loyal to the Constitution, stand up, hold people accountable, operate under a code of ethics, deliver and represent the people of Kansas.”