Ken Cannon acknowledges his campaign doesn’t have as much money as those of other candidates. But he thinks Kansas voters will turn to him in November when selecting their next governor.
“People are ready for a change,” said Cannon, who is running on the Reform Party ticket.
Cannon and his wife, Connie, are in the process of selling a home in Salina. They are traveling in a recreational vehicle as part of what he calls a grassroots gubernatorial campaign.
“We’ve literally been crisscrossing the state of Kansas,” he said.
Cannon, 59, said he recently visited Leavenworth during the Kansas Sampler Festival. He also returned to Leavenworth as he completed a cycling trek as a participant in this year’s Biking Across Kansas.
He plans to return to the county later this summer to campaign.
Cannon, a retired educator, believes in offering incentives to promote small business opportunities.
He also supports what is referred to as a fair tax, which would rely on sales tax revenue in place of income taxes.
Cannon believes Kansas can blaze a trail for the country by embracing the fair tax concept.
He also supports wind energy and believes in term limits for lawmakers.
Also running for governor are Sam Brownback and Joan Heffington, who will face each other in the Republican primary, as well as Democrat Tom Holland and Libertarian Andrew P. Gray, according to the Web site for the Kansas secretary of state.
Cannon began campaigning as an independent but later was picked up by the Reform Party.
Cannon said he’s never held political office but was in the middle of politics every day while working as a school administrator.
“I certainly understand how the political arena works,” he said.
