This story is part of Gen Z at the Ballot Box, a collaboration between States Newsroom and The 19th. TOPEKA, Kansas — After state Rep. Angel Roeser defied her fellow Republicans and voted against their plan to ask voters to change the way Kansas Supreme Court justices are selected, members of her own party shared a graphic calling her and three other dissenters “obstructionists.” With the inside of the Capitol dome colored blood red and the representatives’ faces plastered beneath it in black and white, the words and visuals are akin to a tabloid mug shot.
Roeser said she’s not sure her likeness in the post is even real — it’s likely a composite image generated by artificial intelligence. Even with the vitriol, the 25-year-old lawmaker stood by her decision, saying she had prioritized her constituents instead of the GOP agenda. In hindsight, her vote appears to have reflected her constituents’ wishes: Last month, the proposal to elect Supreme Court justices — pushed by anti-abortion proponents to elect more conservative judges — failed resoundingly at the polls.
Still, Roeser said that even before the vote, she had had difficulty getting meetings with Republican leadership, and this was just another instance that left her feeling ostracized. So after serving a single term in the Legislature, she did not seek reelection. And come January, her Manhattan-area district, which includes many young voters at Kansas State University, will be represented by someone else.
I was labeled before I even had a chance to legislate. And when I did not live up to the hype, my own party turned on me.” Roeser’s experience exemplifies broader frustrations among members of Generation Z who feel excluded from U.S. politics, even as both Republicans and Democrats court their attention and votes. Roeser was the youngest legislator in Kansas when she took office in 2024 at 23 years old.
The title of youngest legislator will most likely soon go to Democrat Reed Krewson, a 24-year-old parks and recreation manager in Overland Park running unopposed for the House. They might come from different parties with different platforms, but representing young people drove Roeser’s consequential vote and Krewson’s candidacy. Representing young voters can be a tall order in a nation and state led by septuagenarians and older: President Donald Trump is 80, and Kansas Democratic Gov.
The average age of Kansas lawmakers was 59 years old during the 2025 legislative session, according to a study by the Center for Youth Political Participation at Rutgers University. But representation by young people is vital, said Alberto Medina, the spokesperson for Tufts University’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, or CIRCLE, a youth civics research organization. She said House Speaker Dan Hawkins punished her for how she voted in the 2026 session.
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