Joyce Warshaw, mayor of Dodge City and principal of Dodge City USD 443’s Miller Elementary School, is a Republican candidate for the open 38th State Senate seat.

“It was a really tough decision,” Warshaw said, but she thinks she’s a “proven problem-solver who cares about people” and she wants “to be part of the solution to fix the economic problems caused by the Brownback experiment,” she said.

“I really, really want to fight for the economy, infrastructure and schools,” she said Sunday.

Sen. Garrett Love, R-Montezuma, announced in May he would not seek re-election in the 38th. The district covers Clark, Ford, Gray, Meade and Seward counties, and part of Hodgeman County. Rep. Bud Estes, R-Dodge City, quickly switched from a re-election bid to the Senate race after Love’s announcement.

Estes is a farm machinery dealer who generally has voted with conservative Republicans in the House. Warshaw indicated there would be differences between herself and Estes.

“There’s a lot of people that want change. They want to see something different,” Warshaw said.

Warshaw, 65, was appointed to a vacancy on the Dodge City City Commission nearly four years ago. She said if she won her bid for the Senate, she would not continue as school principal. She also expects she would relinquish her spot on the City Commission, because she would be in Topeka for the legislative session.