With Election Day less than a month away now, maybe it’s time to check back with Sean Tevis. Mr. Tevis is running for Kansas State Representative in District 15 (downtown Olathe, KS). His big campaign issue appears to be eliminating the sales tax that Kansas charges on food (less than 15 states charge sales tax on food, not counting prepared food at restaurants). Sounds fair enough, but let’s face it, most of us would never even have heard of him we barely know who our own state representatives and senators are if not for a little xkcd-style comic he put together to ask the Internet for donations.
Called Running for Office: It’s Like A Flamewar with a Forum Troll, but with an Eventual Winner, the comic briefly touched on Mr. Tevis’ positions, but most importantly it made a call for donations, reasoning that if 3000 people donated just $8.34 each, he’d have enough money to run a competitive campaign.
In less than two days, the Internet delivered. He not only got the $26,000 he asked for, but people kept on donating, some giving even more (much more) than the requested amount.
That isn’t to say that the campaign isn’t without its detractors, most notably the representative that Mr. Tevis is running again, Arlen Siegfreid:
Arlen Siegfreid’s liberal, Mainstream Coalition-endorsed liberal Democratic opponent has gained national attention raising tens of thousands online from out-of-state donors. You can visit his report here and add up the out-of-state numbers yourself — plus an additional $67,000 of his donations are unidentified as they are under the $50 limit required by the state.
He actually used the word “liberal” twice in one sentence. But anyway, back to Sean Tevis. He eventually followed up on his first two comments with a new comic strip and a blog post, vowing to focus on voters and contributors. He’s done some media appearances and marched in a parade.
Whether Mr. Tevis will continue to make comics if he takes office remains to be seen, but one can only hope.
Tags: Democratic Party, Kansas, Sean Tevis, xkcd