Jim Sherow

James "Jim" Sherow is an environmental and agricultural historian at Kansas State University and a regional Democratic politician in Kansas. He is most notable for serving as a city commissioner and mayor of the city of Manhattan, Kansas. He is the Democratic nominee for the First District in the United States House of Representatives elections in Kansas, 2014, running against incumbent Tim Huelskamp .

Sherow's father and uncles served in the military during World War II. Sherow volunteered for military service during the Vietnam War from 1970-1974.

At Wichita State University Sherow received his bachelor's degree in 1976 and his masters in 1978. He finished his Ph.D. in History at the University of Colorado in 1987. His dissertation was titled "Discord in the Valley of Content" and received a "Westerners International-Phi Alpha Theta Award" for the historical subfield of "Western history".

Sherow taught at Southwest Texas State University until 1992 when he became an associate professor at Kansas State University. Once at K-State, the College of Arts and Sciences awarded him with the William L. Stamey Award for Teaching in May 1995. In 2007, he became a full professor.

Sherow ran for city commission in 2005 with the endorsement of "Citizens for a Better Manhattan", but did not enter the commission. He lost by 6 votes after the count of provisional ballots. The election focused on topics like the redevelopment of downtown Manhattan, KS, the rental housing inspections, and the town's aquatics center. That year, he was elected to the Board of Directors for Downtown Manhattan, Inc which he maintained until 2007.

Sherow served in the Manhattan, KS city commission from April 2007 until April 2013. In 2007, Sherow tied votes with challenger Jayme Morris-Hardeman for Manhattan, KS city commissioner seat. According to The Collegian, the student newspaper at Kansas State University, the tie was decided by a coin toss, with Sherow winning.

Sherow ran again in the 2009 elections. As of March 2009, Sherow was one of 4 city commission candidates to support the expansion of the local transit system, ATA Bus, to include fixed routes. In a similarly controversial issue, Sherow supported the southern portion of the redevelopment of Downtown Manhattan, which included the Flint Hills Discovery Center and a conference center. Both programs were enacted subsequent the elections. In the 2009 general election, Sherow received the most votes of the commissioners in the election receiving 2,756 votes or 18.07% of the total cast ballots, giving him a four-year term.

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