Interview of Kathleen Sebelius, March 8, 2004
Interviewed by Bob Beatty
This 2004 oral history interview of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius was conducted by Dr. Bob Beatty of Washburn University as part of the Kansas Governors Recorded History and Documentary Project. At the time if this interview she was halfway through her first term as governor. Sebelius described her political lineage as the daughter of an Ohio governor and her transition from a volunteer to a Democratic leader in a Republican-leaning state. Throughout the interview, she reflected on the visibility and intensity of the role of governor, emphasizing her commitment to consumer advocacy, bipartisan cooperation, and fiscal responsibility. Considered together, this interview, a set of interviews also conducted by Dr. Beatty in 2016, and interviews of Sebelius conducted by KOHP in 2022, 2023, and 2026 provide insights into the approach of Kansas' second woman governor and the state's political landscape in the first decade of the 21st Century.
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Interviews of former Kansas governors conducted by Dr. Bob Beatty of Washburn University during the early decades of the 21st Century provide a view of the lives, political philosophies, and priorities of governors who led Kansas from the late 20th to the early 21st Century. Beatty generously granted the Kansas Oral History Project (KOHP) permission to house the transcripts of these interviews conducted with former governors John Anderson, William Avery, John Carlin, Bill Graves, Mike Hayden, Mark Parkinson, and Kathleen Sebelius. These interviews are a significant addition to the Kansas Governors collection, and the KOHP Board is grateful to Dr. Beatty for making the transcripts available for posting here.Base Realignment & Closure Committee; Economic Development; Gun rights; Kansas Bioscience Authority; Legislature, interactions with governor; School finance; State Budget; Washburn University
Kathleen Sebelius is an Ohio native, the daughter of Jack Gilligan who served a single term in Congress and was elected governor of Ohio when Sebelius was 21. She graduated from Trinity Washington University in Washington, DC with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. After moving to Kansas in 1974, she earned a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Kansas. Sebelius worked as executive director and lobbyist for the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association from 1977 to 1986. She was elected to represent a Topeka district in the Kansas House of Representatives in 1986. She held that office from 1987-1994. In 1994 Sebelius was elected to serve as the Kansas Insurance Commissioner. The first of her two terms in that office began in 1995. In 2002 she was elected to be the second woman governor of Kansas. She was reelected in 2006. Also in 2006 Sebelius was elected chair of the Democratic Governors Association. In 2009 she resigned as governor to assume the position of Secretary Health and Human Services (HHS) at the federal level. Lieutenant governor Mark Parkinson became governor for the rest of that term. Sebelius served as Secretary of HHS until 2014. After leaving federal service, she founded a company that provides strategic advice to companies and organizations.
May 15, 1948
Democrat
Executive Director, Kansas Trial Lawyers Association 1977-1986
Member, Kansas House of Representatives 1987-1995
Chair, House Federal and State Affairs 1991-1992
Insurance Commissioner, State of Kansas 1995-2003
Governor, State of Kansas 2003-2009
Secretary, US Department Health & Human Services 2009-2014
Topeka, KS
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