Why is a group that advocates for term limits backing a 4-term Kansan’s re-election bid?
A Johnson County Republican seeking his fifth term in the Kansas Legislature is getting a boost from an unlikely source — a group dedicated to imposing term limits at all levels of government.
Some Olathe, De Soto and Gardner residents have received postcards in the mail praising state Rep. John Resman for signing a pledge to support term-limiting U.S. Congress members.
The mailer, which asks residents to call Resman and thank him for signing the pledge, was paid for by U.S. Term Limits, a nonpartisan advocacy group based in Washington D.C.
Resman was appointed to the Legislature in February 2017 and has been re-elected three times. He’s running again this year against Democrat Mel Pinick, who he defeated by 839 votes in 2022.
“There are people who have been in the Legislature a lot longer than I have been,” Resman told The Star when asked why he believes the organization is supporting him.
The U.S. Term Limits pledge Resman signed in 2022 calls for state legislatures across the country to apply for a Constitutional Convention with the purpose of adopting a term-limit amendment for U.S. senators and representatives. Initiating a convention would require 34 states to pass legislation.
“John Resman says he’s in favor of term limits, yet he’s running for his fifth straight term in the Kansas Legislature,” Pinick posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Help me limit him to the four terms he’s already served. It’s time for a new, younger generation to help HD121 move forward!”
Nick Tomboulides, CEO of U.S. Term Limits, called that critique of the Republican incumbent “baseless” and said his group stands by the mailer.
“Kansas functionally has a part-time citizen legislature hallmarked by small districts, modest pay and much more limited staff,” he wrote in an email statement. “Members still live among their constituents, hold private sector jobs and can be held accountable for their votes. There is a high turnover rate. Unlike Congress, it is not a career but rather an interruption of a career.”
Resman retired from his longtime career in the investigations division of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office in 2010. Pinick works as a business systems analyst.
“When I was approached by this group I did not sign their pledge, because I feel that the voters should decide when a representative’s time in office is over,” Pinick told The Star. “Next week, the voters of this district will choose who they want to represent them, either a career politician who has disregarded their voice and doesn’t think policy applies to them, or a working mom advocating for policies that benefit working families in Kansas.”
‘Two years at a time’
Research shows term limits are broadly popular across the American political spectrum. According to 2023 Pew Research data, 87% of U.S. adults favor limiting the number of terms that members of Congress are allowed to serve.
Resman said he supports term limits at both the federal and state levels.
“It’d get fresh blood in there, new ideas. When you have people in there for forty years, it can get kind of stale and they can amass a lot of power,” he said.
Sixteen states have adopted term limits for lawmakers, including Missouri, which limits senators and representatives to eight years in the legislature. Thirty-seven states including Kansas and Missouri have capped the number of terms someone can serve as governor, either consecutively or in their lifetime.
The longest-serving current members of the Kansas Legislature are state Rep. Barbara Ballard and state Sen. David Haley, who have served since 1992 and 1994, respectively.
Resman said he’s not sure how long Kansas lawmakers should be allowed to serve but he’s open to the idea of reform.
“I’m not going to be in the state legislature forever. I know that,” he said.
“We’ll see with the next term and go two years at a time.”
