Sheila Frahm

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Sheila Frahm

| image = SenatorFrahm(R-KS).jpg

| jr/sr = United States Senator

| state = Kansas

| term_start = June 11, 1996

| term_end = November 7, 1996

| appointer = Bill Graves

| predecessor = Bob Dole

| successor = Sam Brownback

| office1 = 44th Lieutenant Governor of Kansas

| governor1 = Bill Graves

| term_start1 = January 9, 1995

| term_end1 = June 11, 1996

| predecessor1 = Jim Francisco

| successor1 = Gary Sherrer

| state_senate2 = Kansas

| district2 = 40th

| term_start2 = January 9, 1989

| term_end2 = January 9, 1995

| predecessor2 = Richard Gannon

| successor2 = Stan Clark

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1945|3|22}}

| birth_place = Colby, Kansas, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| party = Republican

| spouse = Kenneth Frahm

| education = Fort Hays State University (BA)
University of Texas at Austin

| birth_name = Sheila Sloan

}}

Sheila Frahm (née Sloan; born March 22, 1945) is an American politician who served in the United States Senate as a Republican from Kansas for a brief period in 1996.{{cite web |title=Frahm in Congress|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=F000438|work=Congressional Directory}}

Life and career

Frahm was born in Colby, Kansas. In 1979, she served as a member of the town school board.{{cite web | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-05-25-mn-8174-story.html | title=Kansas Official Named to Succeed Dole | website=Los Angeles Times | date=25 May 1996 }} She was appointed to the Kansas state Board of Education in 1985 and was re-elected in 1986. In 1988, she was appointed to the position of vice-president.{{cite web|title=Sheila Frahm |url=http://womenincongress.house.gov/member-profiles/profile.html?intID=80|work=Women In Congress|publisher=House|accessdate=March 15, 2012|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120101051833/http://womenincongress.house.gov/member-profiles/profile.html?intID=80|archivedate=January 1, 2012}} Frahm was a member of the Kansas State Senate from 1989 to 1995. She became the first woman to be given the title of majority leader of the Kansas Senate when she was elected in 1993. Frahm was the 44th Lieutenant Governor of Kansas from 1995 to 1996. While serving as lieutenant governor, Frahm also served as the state's Secretary of Administration.

On May 16, 1996, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, announced that he would resign from the Senate to focus all of his time on his presidential campaign, stating that he would formally leave by June 11.{{cite news|last=Berke|first=Richard L.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/16/us/politics-overview-dole-says-he-will-leave-senate-focus-presidential-race.html|title=Dole says he will leave Senate to focus on presidential race|work=The New York Times|date=May 16, 1996|access-date=June 17, 2010}} Eight days later, Governor Bill Graves announced that he would appoint Frahm to replace Dole. On June 11, Dole resigned and Frahm was sworn in. {{cite web | url=https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/news/9605/24/dole.successor/index.shtml | title=AllPolitics - Dole's Successor Named - MAY 24, 1996 | website=CNN }} During her time in the Senate, Frahm voted with the Republican Party 92.9% of the time. The Senate average was 87.5%.https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1996/06/12/sheila-frahm-following-the-leader/3ea15fd8-bd0e-4d91-a567-3b5e15656230/ {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}} Around the time she was sworn in as Senator, she labeled herself as "traditionally conservative...very tight-fisted, very prudent. That's what Kansas is."{{cite web|title=Voting Statistics for Sheila Frahm |url=http://www.thepoliticalguide.com/Profiles/Senate/Kansas/Sheila_Frahm/VotingStatistics/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305013010/http://www.thepoliticalguide.com/Profiles/Senate/Kansas/Sheila_Frahm/VotingStatistics/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=March 5, 2016|work=The Political Guide|accessdate=15 March 2012}}

Frahm ran in the Republican special primary on August 6 to serve Dole's remaining two years of his term, where she immediately ran into competition in first-term U.S. Representative Sam Brownback (who had asked Graves to appoint him but was rejected). He campaigned in favor of banning legal abortion and a constitutional amendment allowing school prayer, each of which Frahm opposed.{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/08/05/us/race-for-dole-s-senate-seat-provokes-ideological-split.html | title=Race for Dole's Senate Seat Provokes Ideological Split (Published 1996) | website=The New York Times | date=5 August 1996 }} Frahm received just 41% of the vote; Brownback went on to win the November 1996 special general election, taking office two days after winning.{{cite web | url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/204751/ | title=The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas | date=7 August 1996 }} Frahm was the first appointed senator to lose a party primary since Maryon Pittman Allen in 1978 and the last until Luther Strange did so in 2017.{{cite web | url=https://rollcall.com/2017/09/26/strange-first-appointed-senator-to-lose-primary-in-two-decades/ | title=Strange First Appointed Senator to Lose Primary in Two Decades | date=27 September 2017 }}https://kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article36849441.html {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}https://www.npr.org/sections/politicaljunkie/2010/04/24/126248204/senate-incumbents-defeated-in-primaries {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}

Other

Frahm is an Honorary Chair of Women for Kansas.{{cite web|title=Honorary Chairs|url=http://womenforkansas.org/us/honorary-chairs/|website=Women for Kansas|accessdate=October 8, 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013083340/http://womenforkansas.org/us/honorary-chairs/|archivedate=October 13, 2014}} She moved back to Colby, Kansas, and became the executive director of the Kansas Association of Community College Trustees. For the 2018 gubernatorial election, Frahm joined many other high-profile Republican current and former legislators and politicians in endorsing the Democratic nominee, and eventual victor, Laura Kelly.{{cite web|title=Laura Kelly touts growing list of Republican support|url=https://www.wibw.com/content/news/Laura-Kelly-touts-growing-list-of-Republican-support-493262361.html|website=WIBW|date=14 September 2018 |accessdate=November 7, 2018}} Frahm endorsed Kelly again in her successful 2022 reelection bid.{{cite web|last=Carpenter|first=Tim|date=September 27, 2022|url=https://kansasreflector.com/briefs/former-kansas-gop-governor-hayden-endorses-reelection-of-democrat-kelly/|title=Former Kansas GOP governor Hayden endorses reelection of Democrat Kelly|work=Kansas Reflector|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221014121145/https://kansasreflector.com/briefs/former-kansas-gop-governor-hayden-endorses-reelection-of-democrat-kelly/|archive-date=October 14, 2022}}