Janis Lee is a native Kansan and graduate of West Smith County High School and Kansas State University. Lee, a Democrat, served as a Kansas state senator from 1989 until 2011. Her first campaign for the state senate in 1988 was against a popular Republican incumbent. She continued to be re-elected though her district changed through two rounds of redistricting, again defeating an incumbent Republican when their districts were merged. She was elected to the position of Assistant Minority Leader in 1997, a post she held until she left the Senate.