Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Svaty selects Iraq combat veteran as running mate

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Svaty selected Wednesday as his lieutenant governor running mate a former U.S. Army helicopter pilot who was awarded a Purple Heart in Iraq and now serves on the Manhattan-Ogden school board.

West Point graduate Katrina Lewison, an executive with a Manhattan software company, joined Svaty on a statewide campaign tour that began at the Capitol in Topeka.

“Kansans want change that makes their lives and their families’ lives better,” said Svaty, a former state legislator and agriculture secretary. “They want leaders who will go out of their way to wok with other leaders at all levels of government, regardless of political philosophy.”

He said Lewison was a “natural-born leader who has been a true public servant throughout her life.”

Lewison grew up in Hutchinson, graduated from West Point in 2000 and was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky. She flew UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and was deployed to Iraq and South Korea with her husband, also a West Point graduate. In Iraq, both were riding in a Humvee in Mosul when attacked with a grenade. She suffered shrapnel wounds and received the Purple Heart in a ceremony attended by Jerry Moran, a U.S. senator from Kansas who was visiting Iraq in 2003.

Read more: http://www.cjonline.com/news/20180516/democratic-gubernatorial-candidate-josh-svaty-selects-iraq-combat-veteran-as-running-mate