Erlanger is ground zero in the 2024 race for the 69th House District, as two candidates who call the city home vye for the 69th House District seat.
Facing off are Steven Doan, the incumbent Republican, and Democrat Wilanne Stangel, a library media specialist with 18 years experience in public and private schools. Both are lifelong Erlanger residents who say they have in mind the best interests of the district that straddles northcentral Boone and Kenton counties.
Doan, a local attorney, husband and father elected to the seat in 2022, is running for a second term. He served previously as general counsel in then-Gov. Matt Bevin’s Office of Agricultural Policy and as a member of Erlanger City Council.
His state legislative record includes efforts to bolster affordable housing by reducing regulatory burdens on builders and support for a proposed constitutional amendment to allow lawmakers to fund private education with public funds.
Doan “is running for reelection because it’s time that the legislature aggressively advances conservative public policy,” his campaign’s website says.
Across the political aisle is Stangel, a mother and grandmother who said in response to LINK nky’s candidate survey that she is running for the 69th District to unite the community.
“My neighbors and community expect a representative who will go to Frankfort and focus on the kitchen table issues that impact real Kentuckians – not the culture wars that seek to divide us,” Stangel told LINK. “I will show up in Frankfort ready to focus on the issues important to my district, and ready to work with Gov. Beshear on Day 1 to support Kentucky’s working families.”
Stangel has emphasized her support for public education, reproductive rights and Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration on her campaign website.
“Her time spent in a wide variety of schools and her experiences raising a child on the autism spectrum have led her to be a strong advocate for public education and intellectual freedom; affordable, accessible health care that is medically, not politically, determined; and the workforce development and support systems (child care, affordable housing, etc.) that working families deserve in the changing economic landscape,” the site says.
Stangel is a lifelong Erlanger resident who went to Lloyd High School. She raised her three children in Erlanger, according to her campaign website, and all of them still live there.
Stangel has a masters degree in library media education and worked in both private and public school settings for 18 years.
“Her time spend in a wide variety of schools, and her experiences raising a child on the autism spectrum, have led her to be a strong advocate for public education and intellectual freedom,” her campaign website says.
Doan‘s campaign website lists his policy stances as opposing abortion rights, supporting the Second Amendment, being fiscally conservative and “intent to clean out corruption from Frankfort while making it easier for you to live your life without government interference.
“As a father with two children under the age of 3, I am deeply concerned by the state of our economy, educational system and the erosion of the American dream,” the website says. “Too often our leaders make promises and never uphold them. I can proudly say that, when I tell you I am ‘fighting for the future of Kentucky,’ you can see it in my actions. I am fighting not only for the future of my children, but for the futures of children all over the commonwealth.”
Doan’s website says that he served on judiciary, education and local government standing committees and that he successfully represented law enforcement in federal court.
It continues to say that Doan “is committed to defending the unborn and will advocate for the life at conception act.”
Doan graduated from Lloyd High School and Northern Kentucky University for his undergraduate degree. He received his law degree from NKU’s Chase College of Law.
Doan did not respond to LINK’s request for answers to our candidate questions.
House District 69 is made up of parts of Boone and Kenton Counties.