Cole Epley

Cole Epley began serving in the U.S. Army Reserve in 2015. Epley earned a high school diploma from Rose Hill High School and a bachelor's degree from the University of Kansas in 2022. Epley's career experience includes working in social services.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Hello, I am Cole Epley, a 28-year-old born-and-raised Wichitan. With a professional background in education and foster care social work, as well as 10 years and counting of service in the US Army Reserves, what gets me out of bed every day is getting the chance to advocate for people who need it most. I am a proud progressive who, amongst the vast number of political issues today, wants most to help defend the Department of Education, abolish ICE, create safer and easier means of legal immigration, and advocate for federal-level protections for LGBTQ+ and women’s reproductive rights. I want to restore higher taxes (as well as more financial accountability) for the 1% and corporations. I believe that we need to better subsidize local and family farms, helping them through bad years so we can all prosper from their success in good years. Finally, I strongly support universal healthcare, universal higher education, universal childcare, and even the far-off goal of universal basic income.

From day one, my campaign has been 100% grassroots funded. It would be my honor to be your advocate in D.C., and I will not stop working to earn your support and your vote.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

We must protect the Department of Education in order to expand federal supports for special education, hold states accountable for inequitable and racially biased school district funding, and fight for publicly fund technical schools and universities.We must protect immigrants and undocumented Americans from inhumane treatment and deportation by abolishing ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, creating safer and easier means for future immigrants, and allowing for undocumented Americans to begin the immigration process without legal recourse for their prior stay within U.S. borders.We must protect women's reproductive rights and the rights of all LGBTQ+ members, especially transgender Americans, by enshrining them as the 28th and 29th Amendments in the Bill of Rights, making it much harder for bad faith actors to tamper with them in the future.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Advocacy of Youth, Education, and Human Rights