Susan Wagle (born September 27, 1953) is an American politician who served as a Republican member of the Kansas Senate, representing the 30th district from 2001 to 2021.

[10] In 2003, Wagle drew national attention when she attempted to have a human sexuality class at the University of Kansas defunded due to the professor's alleged display of pornographic material.

[5] She was re-elected to the post in 2016, defeating Ty Masterson by a vote of 23–7,[12] becoming only the fourth senate president in Kansas history to serve a second term.

[13] Wagle once "halted a controversial bill that would have enabled public and private employees to refuse service to same-sex couples on religious grounds".

Calling Wagle's action "unprecedented" and "intolerable", the Kansas Sunshine Coalition for Open Government filed a complaint with Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

[14] Attorney General Derek Schmidt later determined the Senate was within its authority to clear the gallery and that an investigation did not indicate any business was conducted while members of the press were absent.

In 2018, when Wagle sought an appointment to a diplomatic post she listed Wichita native Phil Ruffin, a business partner of President Donald Trump, as a reference.

"[20] In January 2019, Wagle formed an exploratory committee to assess entering the 2020 race for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, to fill the seat of the retiring Pat Roberts.

Wagle criticized Kobach's role in a controversial, privately financed scheme to build a southern border wall to impede the unlawful entry of migrants to the United States.

"[11] Wichita and Las Vegas billionaire and casino business partner of Donald Trump, Phil Ruffin, has been supportive of Wagle's U.S. Senate campaign.

[20] In April 2020, Mike Kuckelman, the chair of the Kansas Republican Party, urged Wagle and several other candidates to drop out of the U.S. Senate race, to prevent Kris Kobach from winning the GOP nomination.

[22] In a statement, Wagle said she withdrew her candidacy before the candidate filing deadline , in favor of party unity, her work in the Kansas Legislature addressing the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic crisis, and to spend time with her family after the recent death of her daughter who had 4 young children and had relapsed with Multiple Myeloma.

As director of a local non-profit, Tolan had obtained a grant from a charitable fund posthumously named after George Tiller, an assassinated physician who had performed abortions.

[20] In October 2020, a video surfaced in which Wagle encouraged Republican donors to help elect a supermajority in the state legislature in advance of redistricting.

In an attempt to give her party an advantage, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly asked the state legislature to form an independent redistricting commission.

[29][30] In 2018, Wagle cosponsored legislation with Kansas Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley that worked to bring more transparency to state contracts.

[37] Wagle called for an audit and review for the abuse of taxpayer dollars which ultimately led to the shutdown of KBA for findings of misspent funds.

[38] In February 2020, Wagle sought to block the federally-funded expansion of Medicaid by the Kansas legislature out of concern that it would lead to taxpayer funded abortions in the state.

[43] Kansas challenged the LCC's decision in court, saying that the council and Republican state Attorney General Derek Schmidt had "weakened and confused our emergency response efforts, putting every Kansan at risk.

[41] After former Democratic staffer Abbie Hodgson complained about widespread harassment and inappropriate requests from legislators, Wagle said that in five years as senate president, she had never received any such complaints.

[46] Wagle has expressed disagreement with State Supreme Court decisions and has attempted to change the process for nomination and confirmation of justices.