Mari-Lynn Poskin

Kansas State House District 20

2020 Race Update: Mari-Lynn won 51.55% to 48.45%

Mari-Lynn Poskin is a Kansan by choice, with decades of personal and professional experience in education. She is passionate about ensuring world-class public schools, improving health care access for all Kansans, and restoring Kansas’ economic stability and vitality.

Mari-Lynn and her husband David have a blended family of seven children and two grandchildren. Together, they have 90 years of K-12 education experience, 62 of which are in Johnson County public schools. Mari-Lynn is a higher education professional with 20 years of experience at trade schools, community colleges, and four-year colleges. In her time at Johnson County Community College, she won the Mid-America Regional Council’s Green Commute Challenge several years running by cycling to and from work 10 miles each way during peak ozone season.

As the primary caregiver for her husband David, who has secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, Mari-Lynn understands how critical access to health care is and how chronic illness and disability impact families. 

While a grant writer at the Northern Illinois Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, she was on a team that won two grants in one year from SAMHSA, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration federal agency. As with so many families in District 20, her childhood family was not unscathed by substance abuse and her dear friend lost her son to suicide. Mari-Lynn understands the critical need for evidence-based mental health prevention and treatment services that are readily available.

Health care issues and her passion for education drive most of her volunteer endeavors. She has always been active in the schools, is a Reader at KC Scholars, serves on the board of Wrestling MS, and has been a top fundraiser for the National MS Society’s Bike MS. She is also a volunteer for Stand Up Blue Valley and Game On for Kansas Schools. The energy she brings to the table is evident in the multiple Century Rides she has completed, riding 100 miles on a bike in one day.

Mari-Lynn is currently a small business owner, operating KC College Connect in Leawood, where she provides college planning services to local families.