Meet Kelly Krout, running for Lieutenant Governor in Arkansas
The job of a Lieutenant Governor is typically to preside over the senate and to break a tie if there ever is one. This position also takes over the role of Governor in case the seat becomes vacant.
Something that drew Kelly into this position was the ability to become an advocate for pressing issues within her state. She likes to spend a lot of time on her platform, educating people about issues and helping them get involved in the process of solving them. Her goal is to make it more accessible for community members to be civilly engaged in government.
Kelly and her husband were foster parents for 10 years! Through her time fostering, she saw many ways that the system could be improved. During that time she also went back to school to get her Masters in Social Work. This is when she realized just how damaged the criminal justice system was. Similar to what she realized in the foster system, Kelly saw that there need to be better ways to keep people out of these systems in the first place. She wants to bring awareness to these systemic issues and educate people on how they can become a part of positive change. Since she already adopted 3 boys and has 4 of her own, Kelly decided it was time to find more ways to help beyond bringing people into her own family. That’s why she’s running for this position.
Some of the biggest issues that Kelly sees in her state are the introduction of strict abortion laws, teacher shortages, and an underfunded education system. She says that people from all sides of the political spectrum are concerned by extreme legislative decisions. Kelly believes that the current legislature mainly focuses on benefitting small groups of wealthy people instead of all people. She is excited about the opportunity to speak across the state and become a leader in educating people on state wide issues.
Kelly wants people to know that Arkansas is not as red as everyone thinks it is. We learned that they actually have one of the lowest rates of voter turnout and voter registration in the country. Many people there are disenfranchised by the political system and the decisiveness they have been fed recently. Kelly says that the people there often get mislabeled and that many people there are actually striving for something much better. She wants to encourage more people to vote for what they believe in!
Through her studies, Kelly has seen just how influential play is in the learning process. She wants to apply this knowledge to politics and make it fun and accessible to learn and get involved in the decision making process. Her belief is that she should take state issues seriously but at the same time be an approachable, real person that community members can connect with. Kelly says that it is important to show people that politicians and people as well and that they can connect with them on more personal levels.
Her goal is to engage more young voters and reach all voters on a more human, personal level!