TOPEKA, Ks. – Hundreds of workers from dozens of unions descended on the Kansas State Capitol building on Jan. 14, 2026 to rally and talk issues with state-level elected-officials for the annual Kansas State AFL-CIO Labor Rally and Lobby Day. The event was one of the highest attended in recent memory.
This year, the Kansas State AFL-CIO had two new officers from Wichita in leadership helping to lead the show, Executive Secretary-Treasurer Jake Lowen, who previously served 18 years as Director of the Wichita-Hutchinson Labor Federation where he led a coalition of 24 affiliated local unions across south-central Kansas, and President Brian Alexander, both of whom were elected in November of 2025.
President Alexander, a member of IAM Local 774 in Wichita, Ks. for over three decades, kicked off rally and was followed by remarks from Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, who addressed the gathered crowd for her final time as governor.
Kelly spoke on the importance of supporting working families and organized labor, reminding the crowd that she walked the picket line with members of UAW Local 31 in Kansas City, Ks. and joked to thunderous laughter from the crowd that she did so without giving anyone “the finger,” referencing a recent incident that saw President Trump flip off and swear at a member of UAW Local 600 in Dearborn, Mi. who called him a “pedophile protector.”
Gov. Kelly, who has been a regular speaker at this event, has had a somewhat complicated relationship with unions in her two terms as governor. Her administration has landed billions in economic development, created an apprenticeship office, and oversaw the reforming of Kansas’ workers compensation system, which included raising the draconian low benefit caps for the first time in many years. At the same time, Kelly was very publicly denounced in 2022 by the Teamsters for signing Senate Bill 313 into law, legislation that recklessly expanded the ability of autonomous vehicles to operate in Kansas.
“Kansas thrives when labor has a seat at the table. And Kansas succeeds when we never forget that behind every project, every investment and every milestone are the workers who make it possible,” said Gov. Kelly.
Jake Lowen delivered one of the most passionate speeches of the day, telling the union members gathered in the Statehouse’s first floor rotunda to look around and take in “the house that labor built” and warning that, sitting in offices throughout the building, there are opponents of working-people, powered by monied interests, who are “coming for what’s left of our right to organize.”
Lowen described the thirty-seven years it took to construct, with at least seven workers dying in the process.
“They think that we forgot how to build,” said Lowen, according to reporting from the Kansas Reflector. “They think that we’re too divided, too tired and too beaten down. But here’s what they don’t understand. We’re still here in the same building that our people raised with their hands, doing the same work that our founders started, and we will be here long after these walls have crumbled.”
Additional speakers at the rally included John Nave, Executive Vice President of the Kansas AFL-CIO; Matthew Biggs, President of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE); Gay Henson, Secretary-Treasurer of IFPTE; Emil Ramirez, International Vice President of the United Steelworkers; and Luke Pavone, Campaign Lead for the Communications Workers of America, District 6.
Each speaker reinforced the message of the day, “Working Families First! Bridge the Divide!”, emphasizing that the challenges facing working people in Kansas are best met through unity and collective action.
“There was a ton of enthusiasm, a full crowd, and some very talented speakers. I think that organized labor in Kansas is on the upswing,” said CWA Local 6360’s Tom Gebken.
Dozens of elected officials and candidates came to meet with workers during the event.
Tristin Amezcua-Hogan is the Editor of The Labor Beacon and a member of LIUNA Local 264. Tristin also serves as the Director of Communications for the Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO and the Chair of the Kansas City Regional Transit Alliance.
Tristin grew up as the son of a UA Local 669 member in Tecumseh, KS and the great-nephew of George C. Amis, longtime leader of the United Rubberworkers (now USW Local 307) in Kansas. Growing up in rural Kansas as the child of teen parents, Tristin quickly came to appreciate the life-changing benefit of a union job.
Tristin and his partner, Rebeca Amezcua-Hogan, are residents of the Westside, Kansas City, MO's historic Mexican neighborhood. They are proud members of Kansas City's New Reform Temple.
