District Attorney Keith Schroeder who recently announced that he will run for re-election here in Reno County will have a general election opponent.

Sarah Sweet-McKinnon filed Friday with the Kansas Secretary of States Office to run as a Democratic challenger against Schroeder.

McKinnon is currently head of the Regional Public Defender’s Office here in Reno County. Prior to that, she worked in the Sedgwick County Public Defender’s Office and was most notably the co-counsel for Dennis Rader, aka “the BTK killer.”

But, she has handled the defense on high profile cases here in Reno County as well, including Valarie Gonzales, Antahj Jenkins, and James Ryan Bloom, just to name a few.

She has many times been at odds over court issues and the way Schroeder files charges. Her announcing that she’s running comes as a bit of surprise, and will makes this years election more interesting.

She told us Friday evening that this is something she has been considering for sometime. She tells us, she has been considering it for 6-to-8 months, and after hearing from families of some of her clients, colleagues, and even some in law enforcement, she decided to give it a try.

District Attorney Keith Schroeder responded to Friday’s news saying that he’s not surprised that she’s running. He admits that they have bumped heads many times over the years with him representing the victims of crimes and McKinnon representing the interest of her clients. He says he has no apologies for prosecuting cases they way he did, and bumping heads with defense attorney’s.

He did question how she would be able to prosecute many of the cases if she wins, because she would have a conflict of interest because of her knowledge of the cases through her current position. But, McKinnon says she considered that before filing and after checking with Office of the Disciplinary Administrator, she thinks that is more of a “mole hill than a mountain.”

She says the current D-A has been in office 12-years, and has really had no opponent to run against him for the office in previous elections. She says there hasn’t really been any scrutiny of his office or the way he handles his duties.

McKinnon also question how much money is in the D-A’s budget she believes could be trimmed. She didn’t give specifics, but says obtained a copy of his budget and compared to other counties, his budget could be trimmed.

I asked her if she would consider a public debate with Schroeder and she seemed willing. They have certainly debated each other over criminal cases in court in the past.

As we told you earlier, her husband, retired Judge Steve Becker is running for State Representative for the 104th District against House Speaker Mike O’Neal. Even more interesting is the fact the Becker is running as a Republican, but McKinnon is running as a democrat.

You may recall that she ran against her husband for District Judge several years ago and Judge Becker won, but it made for an interesting election.

Again, they will run against each in the general election