‘It’s not over yet,’ Frownfelter says
Aaron Coleman, a 19-year-old candidate, has won the official vote for the Democratic nomination for state representative, 37th District, with a 14-vote margin.
The total was 823 to 809, after a voter canvass on Monday. Long-time incumbent Rep. Stan Frownfelter said he will run in November as a write-in candidate. “It’s not over yet,” he said in a telephone interview.
Coleman said in a telephone interview after the canvass that he will keep knocking on doors in Turner to talk to the voters, which he said is how he won the election.
“My plan is to just keep my head low and work hard these next few months to keep this seat blue,” he said.
Only Coleman would be listed on the ballot in November, but there could be three or more candidates for the 37th District in November. Republican leaders said before the primary election that they were planning to have a GOP write-in candidate, no matter who won the primary. They did not have a candidate by the June filing deadline.
And, Rep. Frownfelter said today, besides his write-in candidacy and the possible GOP write-in opponent, he had heard that there would be another progressive write-in candidate, as well. If the Republican write-in candidate goes forward with her campaign, it will be tougher, Rep. Frownfelter said today.
The story of Coleman’s candidacy has now gone international, and the Kansas governor has been quoted in other stories as saying he isn’t fit to be a state representative. Negative news recently came out about Coleman’s alleged actions as a 14-year-old, involving revenge porn. Coleman picked up support from one local party official who was in favor of other legislators mentoring him.
Earlier this year, Coleman had been criticized for his social media comments, including one comment about Herman Cain, a Republican who went to a large rally and who recently died. Democratic officials apologized for Coleman’s comments, distancing themselves from him.
Rep. Frownfelter said a lot of Democrats believe his opponent is a loose cannon, who reacts to things without thinking first.
Coleman said today that his response is pretty much what it has been through the past, that he is a changed person and is not like that now.
There have been people in the Democratic Party who have stepped up in the past to mentor him, he said, and some may be disappointed in him now.
“Hopefully we’ll get to a point where we’ve shown them I’m not the person that everybody thinks I am,” he said.
Coleman, who announced his campaign on April 20 (4-20 being a slang term for cannabis) said the main different between him and the other candidates is he is a progressive, and he supports a single-payer health care system and legalized cannabis.
“I have a consistent track record on my progressive beliefs,” he said. He said 80 percent of the voters support these health care improvements and legalizing cannabis. “I’m the only one consistent on these very popular issues, that’s what carried me to victory this spring. I think these popular issues will carry me to victory this fall.”
Rep. Frownfelter said those who voted in the Democratic primary were split down the middle, and there are another 57 percent who will have a say in the general election.
He said there are over 22,000 voters in the 37th District, and only about 1,600 of them voted in this contest. Democrats make up about 43 percent of the district, with about 19 percent Republicans, and the rest unaffiliated voters.
“The independents came up this time,” Rep. Frownfelter said. “They’ll be the swing vote in the general.”
Rep. Frownfelter said he felt he has served the community well in the past, and the community needs his experience now. He said he didn’t want Coleman to go to the Legislature and destroy what they have worked to accomplish.
“I think everybody underestimated me in the primary and is going to underestimate me again this fall, because I’m really passionate about knocking doors, and that is what you have to do, meet people where they are, and everybody’s at home,” Coleman said.
“The people of this district have spoken,” Coleman said. “They want a change in the Democratic Party.”
No election outcomes changed. The new county voter turnout total was 23,781.