Rep. Dan Goddard, southeast Kansas lawmaker, dies at 78

TOPEKA — Rep. Dan Goddard, who served in the Kansas House since 2023, died Thursday. He was 78.

Goddard was a Parsons Republican who served in the Kansas Senate from 2017 to 2021 and was elected in 2022 to the House.

In an interview with Kansas Reflector after announcing he would not run for reelection this year, Goddard said he had never dreamed of being a politician. Instead, he joined the U.S. Air Force, becoming a pilot and serving for 24 years. After that, he worked to support economic development at closed military bases.

“I came to Kansas without a political thought in my mind,” Goddard said as his final session in the Legislature came to a close. “There are some great, great people in this chamber on both sides of the aisle. I’ve made friends that I will never, ever, ever forget.”

Those friends went online to mourn his passing. Senate Minority Leader Dynah Sykes, a Lenexa Democrat who is running for state insurance commissioner, wrote in a Facebook post that she was grateful for his kindness and friendship.

“Dan was always willing to work together and support good policies, despite us coming from different sides of the aisle,” she said.