Aaron Coleman, 19, who on Sunday announced he was withdrawing from the contest for the 37th District, today said he’s back in the race.
Coleman won the Democratic nomination for the 37th District, House of Representatives, over veteran lawmaker Rep. Stan Frownfelter.
There is no candidate opposing Coleman on the general election ballot; however, Rep. Frownfelter, a Democrat, and a Republican opponent, Kristina Smith, have said they would run as write-in candidates in November.
Coleman, a college student who is a dishwasher, was ahead by one vote on election night, and then won the primary election by 14 votes at the canvass. He said on Sunday he was planning to submit a letter withdrawing from the race because of family medical hardship.
If he dropped out, Democratic precinct committee members would have selected a replacement on the November ballot.
During the primary campaign, last-minute negative information came out about Coleman that alleged he had engaged in revenge porn more than five years ago as a middle school student, which he admitted, plus other allegations involving bullying. Although Coleman said he has changed, some of the Democratic establishment distanced themselves from him, and there were some calls for him to resign.
Today, Coleman sent out an email that he was changing his mind and staying in the race. He stated he had heard from many people who voted for him, who urged him not to drop out. “They said that they did not vote for me expecting that I was a perfect person,” he wrote.
He said today that he had dropped out Sunday to try to focus on his family. What he realized is he would be putting the interest of himself and family above the interest of the community, he said.
Within a couple hours after he announced his withdrawal on Sunday, his phone and text messages started to blow up with people who had helped in his campaign, who said he can’t do this, he said.
“They told me about their struggle to pay rent and put food on the table,” Coleman said.
“I did some soul-searching,” he said. “Had I taken my name off the ballot, Stan Frownfelter would have been renominated.”
He said he reached that conclusion after some conversations with precinct committee members.
Coleman wrote in his email, “I won because voters decided that the policies I believe in – providing universal health care coverage through Medicare for All, stopping evictions and investing in public housing, taking action against polluters and funding a Green New Deal to create jobs, and fixing the broken school system that failed me – would improve their lives.”
As for the November election, Coleman said, “I’m going to run like I’m scared, like I’m 10 points down.”
He said he is planning to go door-to-door in the district again.
“If you don’t talk with everybody, when you go to Topeka, you can’t represent everybody because you haven’t spoken with everybody,” he said.
Aaron Coleman, 19, the Democratic nominee for state representative, 37th District, said on Sunday that he will withdraw from the election.
Coleman said in an interview on Sunday that he was withdrawing because his father is ill and has been hospitalized for the past 10 days. He said he is planning to submit a letter by Sept. 1 to the Kansas secretary of state withdrawing from the contest because of medical hardship.
“For me and my family, I have no choice but to use medical hardship to take my name off the ballot and allow the Democratic precinct people to choose the next nominee,” Coleman said.
He said this past year has been very hard on his family; he lost his brother about a year and a week ago.
Coleman upset veteran legislator, Rep. Stan Frownfelter, in the Democratic primary for the 37th District on Aug. 4, ahead by one vote on election night and then ahead by 14 votes after the voter canvass on Monday, Aug. 17. Frownfelter said last week he will run as a write-in candidate. Also announced as a write-in candidate was Republican Kristina Smith.
Last-minute allegations surfaced during the primary campaign that Coleman had engaged in revenge porn more than five years ago when he was in middle school. Coleman confirmed it to reporters, and said he had changed since then.
Coleman’s story took on a life of its own, and the news of his election circulated internationally. His candidacy was widely commented upon on social media, and some government officials in his party commented that he wasn’t fit for office.
“I was not expecting this kind of attention,” Coleman said Sunday. “My goal was to serve my community, and it was just too much for me.”
Shortly after he was elected, Coleman said he was surprised and hadn’t expected to win.
Coleman said he had talked with Democratic Party leaders during the past two or three weeks who made it clear the only way it would all go away was if he made the right decision and just got off the ballot.
He also has received threats from others during the campaign, he said.
“Over the course of the campaign I have received many threats,” Coleman said. People had told him to kill himself or said that people will help him do it, he said.
“This is too much for a 19-year-old,” Coleman said.
He said he was glad to step back from politics over the next several months and focus on his family.
Coleman said he is planning to go back to college next week, taking online courses. His goal remains to try to get into the Air Force Reserve Officers Training Program after he gets his associate degree, and to go into the military service as a career, he said.
“I’ve learned that I need to be more gracious and more humble,” he said. “I’ve learned people don’t change overnight; people don’t change just in five years. I have to continuously work on myself and work on the person I want to be.”
Coleman earlier said he won election because he went door-to-door in the 37th District, listening to voters’ concerns. His experience with that taught him that he doesn’t have to be the most intelligent or richest person to win, but just put time and energy into it, he said.
Coleman said it’s his opinion that Rep. Frownfelter had the wrong values for the district. Coleman is a progressive who favors pro-choice and pro-environment issues.
“I’m hopeful the precinct people will make the right decision and choose somebody who represents the Democratic primary voters,” he said.
Coleman sent out an email earlier on Sunday:
“Leaving the race
“After talking it over with my family and my supporters I have made the difficult decision to withdraw my name from the ballot as the Democratic nominee for House District 37. My father was recently hospitalized and in combination with the recent developments in the race it has put a significant strain on my family. Their wellbeing is too important to me to continue as the nominee.
“Rather than waiting, I’m doing this now so that the Democratic Party can find a suitable replacement. Stan Frownfelter does not fight for the values of House District 37. The voters already rejected him once. Now the Democratic Party can choose someone better as their nominee.
“It was an honor to be chosen as the Democratic Party’s nominee and I am deeply grateful to everyone who supported my campaign. We proved that Kansas Democrats are progressive Democrats and change is possible when you fight for it. Thank you for being a part of that fight.”
Some residents are receiving unsolicited mail ballot applications from outside organizations this week.A letter was included with one of the applications received here. The voter’s name has been deleted in this picture.The ballot application came from an address in Springfield, Missouri.
If an unsolicited mail ballot application arrives in the mail, should you use it?
A reader recently contacted the Wyandotte Daily to ask about a mail-in ballot application she received from a third party, not from the Wyandotte County Election Office.
The applications sent out this week are from a national organization that is trying to get out the vote for the November elections. This particular effort was targeted at getting women and minorities to vote in the upcoming elections, and one of the organizations related to this effort thinks increasing turnout among these groups will be the key to winning the fall elections.
For the general election, Wyandotte County will offer advance voting in person, advance voting by mail and Election Day voting in person.
Wyandotte County Election Commissioner Bruce Newby responded to our questions that the third-party ballot applications could be terribly confusing to some voters, especially those who are permanent advance voters and those who have already applied for a ballot by mail.
“This application form was sent by an organization that has no official connection to any election office in Kansas,” Newby wrote. “The Secretary of State is aware of this outside effort. The (Kansas) Secretary of State’s office approved the application form AV1 but does not have the authority to control the content of any accompanying letter or to whom these are sent.
“Voters can expect many such mailings from others in the coming weeks, including the political parties, major candidates and others,” Newby stated.
“This one comes from outside Kansas,” Newby wrote. “It is sent indiscriminately to all voters, including many who have already requested a mail ballot as well as permanent advance voters who will automatically receive a mail ballot. In some instances, other organizations have given voters the wrong county election office address.
“Some will ask voters to return their application to the organization on the premise that the organization will forward it to the correct election office,” he wrote. “Voters who send their application back to the sending organization need to be aware that the personal information they provide could be used by that organization for other purposes. Further, the voter has no guarantee that the Election Office will ever get their application.”
Newby had several recommendations for voters:
• Go online to print the Form AV1 on the Election Office website, www.wycovotes.org. Voters can fill it out online but must print and sign it before they mail, email, or FAX it to the Wyandotte County Election Office. • Registered voter households will receive official mail from the Election Office mid-September that will include three copies of the official Form AV1. • Send us only one application per voter. Please, do not send duplicate by-mail applications to us. • Never send a completed application for a ballot by-mail anywhere other than the Election Office. • Use forms sent by anyone other than your election office with caution. To whom are you providing your personal information? What are they using it for?
More about this mailing
The reader who contacted us received a mail ballot application form from the Center for Voting Information, Washington, D.C. The sender’s address on the mail was from Springfield, Missouri. The application form was already filled out with the voter’s name and address, but not with the signature or driver’s license number.
There was a letter also with the mail ballot application. The letter did not contain any references to political parties or candidates, and did not discuss any political positions.
Included with the application form and letter was a return envelope to the Wyandotte County Election Commissioner’s office and address, and with the voter’s name and address on the sender’s return address. It was a postage-paid envelope.
The Center for Voting Information, according to its website, is “a non-partisan and non-profit organization that works to provide even-handed and unbiased information about candidates and their positions on issues. We also provide voting-eligible citizens with tools and resources to register and vote in upcoming elections.”
The website stated that CVI and Voter Participation Center generated 939,000 registration applications for the 2020 election, and more than 2 million vote by mail applications for 2020.
According to the website, they also do polling and have seen a noticeable upsurge of support from minorities for the Joe Biden campaign after the announcement of Kamala Harris as the vice presidential nominee.
In a Federal Election Commission document, CVI stated it was formerly known as “Women’s Voices, Women’s Vote Action Fund,” and changed its name in 2017. The organization targeted women, millennials and minorities in an effort to raise wages and address economic and other issues, according to the website.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, opensecrets.org, the Center for Voting Information has a political action committee.
CVI did not report any contributions this year, but it reported an independent expenditure of $38,481, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Vendors and recipients included the Pivot Group and Grow Progress.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the $34,481 was an independent expenditure for support of the Joe Biden for President campaign – it was not by the Biden campaign itself. CVI had supported some other Democratic candidates in other areas in past years.
For more information on voting, visit www.wycovotes.org or call the Election Office at 913-573-8500 during office hours.
