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Conservative wins in Republican Kansas primaries set up conflict with the Democratic governor

Wins by conservatives over GOP moderates could mean more conflict between lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.

by Jim McLean, Kansas News Service

Topeka, Kansas — A near sweep by conservatives over moderates in several primary races this week sets up more conflict over the next two years between the Republican-led Legislature and Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.

“There will be a lot of feuding and fighting going on, particularly given the COVID situation,” said Rep. Tom Phillips, a moderate Republican from Manhattan who isn’t seeking a fifth term.

Republican leaders could further limit Kelly’s power to guide the state’s response to the pandemic and power past her objections to reducing corporate taxes.

Outgoing Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican, said the primary showed that “Kansans want to live in a culture of limited government.”

“My focus now is to preserve our veto-proof majority in the Kansas Senate to keep a check on Laura Kelly’s liberal policies,” Wagle said in a statement.

In each of the past two years, Kelly had enough lawmakers committed to expand Medicaid. But in both of those sessions, Wagle succeeded in blocking votes on the issue that Kelly made the signature of her campaign for governor.

The primary results make expansion and even longer shot, Phillips said.

“Unless the governor has some grand compromise that she’s willing to work out with the conservatives,” he said, “I just don’t think it moves forward.”

Several moderate Republican senators who supported expansion and voted to repeal Republican former Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax cuts lost to conservatives in Tuesday’s primary.

Many of those races weren’t close. Sen. John Skubal of Overland Park got only 36 percent of the vote in his loss to Rep. Kellie Warren. Conservative challenger Mark Steffen beat Sen. Ed Berger, a former president of Hutchinson Community College, 57 percent to 43 percent. In southwest Kansas, moderate Sen. Mary Jo Taylor suffered a 20-point loss to conservative challenger Alicia Straub. And Sen. Randall Hardy of Salina managed only 37 percent in his race against conservative Rep. J.R. Claeys.

“The Republican Party, both in Kansas and nationally, is getting more conservative,” said University of Kansas political scientist Patrick Miller.

He said that puts moderates at an automatic disadvantage in primaries.

“There are just fewer moderates in the Republican Party than there were 10 years ago,” he said, “especially in rural and small-town Kansas.”

GOP moderates beat conservatives in only two Senate primaries. Rep. Brenda Dietrich defeated Sen. Eric Rucker in a Topeka district and Sen. John Doll of Garden City — he ran for lieutenant governor as an independent in 2018 — held off a challenge from conservative Lon Pishny.

Money and endorsements from the Kansas Chamber and anti-abortion organizations helped fuel the effort by conservatives to win back seats they lost in 2016.

Abortion was a big issue in Jane Dirks’ win over Rep. Jan Kessinger in a Johnson County district that includes parts of Leawood and Overland Park. Kessinger was one of only four House Republicans to vote against a proposed constitutional amendment sought by anti-abortion advocates.

That vote mobilized groups like the anti-abortion Students for Life Action, which contacted 4,000 voters in the district to make sure they knew about Kessinger’s vote against putting the amendment on the August primary ballot.

Titus Folks, an organizer for the group, said Kessinger’s defeat is “one that Republican politicians should take note of.”

“It is overwhelmingly clear that pro-life issues are a priority for Kansas conservatives,” he said in a statement congratulating Dirks.

Dirks won the GOP primary with relative ease. But Miller, the KU political scientist, said she could lose to Democrat Mari-Lynn Poskin in the general election.

“That’s a district that Democrats are probably going to be favored to pick up because of (the moderate) Kessinger’s loss,” Miller said. He said voters in the district favored Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential race.

Conservative Republicans could also be vulnerable in other Johnson County districts that, Miller said, “are getting very blue.”

That includes the race between Republican Sen. Mike Thompson and Democrat Lindsey Constance in a district that covers parts of Shawnee, Overland Park, Merriam and Bonner Springs.

Miller sees a similar dynamic in the contest between Warren, the primary winner over Skubal in the 11th Senate District, and Democrat Joy Koesten, a former Republican member of the Kansas House who switched parties in 2018.

Democratic Rep. Cindy Holscher is a strong contender to win a seat now held by Republican Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning, who isn’t running for re-election. Republican James Todd, a former member of the Kansas House, is her general election opponent.

Republican incumbents Sen. Rob Olson and Rep. Charlotte Esau could also be vulnerable in districts transitioning from red to purple, Miller said.

Democratic gains in the general election could offset those made by conservative Republicans in the primary, but only partially, Miller said.

The next Legislature “could have more Democrats” but be more conservative overall, Miller said, “because the Republican caucus gets more conservative.”

Jim McLean is the senior correspondent for the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio focused on the health and well-being of Kansans, their communities and civic life. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks or email jim (at) kcur (dot) org.
Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished by news media at no cost with proper attribution and a link to ksnewsservice.org.
See more at https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-08-06/conservative-wins-in-republican-kansas-primaries-set-up-conflict-with-the-democratic-governor

Election night totals shocking to Rep. Frownfelter

by Mary Rupert

Note: The election totals were updated on Thursday to Aaron Coleman, 800, Rep. Stan Frownfelter, 797, a three-vote margin.

State Rep. Stan Frownfelter, D-37th Dist., said he was shocked by Tuesday night’s election results. He was one vote behind challenger Aaron Coleman in the Democratic primary at the end of the night.

Coleman, 19, upset Rep. Frownfelter in the closest contest in Wyandotte County on Tuesday. The election is not over yet, though.

There still may be votes left to count in the mail, as ballots postmarked by Tuesday have until Friday to get to the Election Office. Also, there are hundreds of provisional ballots that the Board of Canvassers will decide on Aug. 17, Rep. Frownfelter said. After those results, he will determine if he will ask for a recount.

“Anytime you run for office, you know something might happen,” said Rep. Frownfelter, who has served 14 years in the Legislature. Still, he believes he represented his territory and did a good job for the residents there, he said.

While he doesn’t know exactly how many votes are still out within the 37th District, there may be 400 to 600 more votes that may be considered, when the mail ballots are added to provisional ballots, Rep. Frownfelter said.

Frownfelter’s opponent, Aaron Coleman, said he went door-to-door to at least 70 percent of the homes in the district, talking to voters. A Bernie Sanders supporter, Coleman also said on Wednesday that he thought the election results showed the strength of the progressive movement.

The 69-year-old legislator has been in office since 2007 and has been a strong supporter of the rights of workers. He said he also campaigned door-to-door in July.

“I did as much as I could with the heat and everything, walk an hour, sit a bit,” Rep. Frownfelter said.

Rep. Frownfelter said although there was a good turnout overall in Wyandotte County, around 28 percent, in his district in Turner there was less than 10 percent turnout. Only about 1,500 out of 22,000 voters in the district cast a ballot by Tuesday night.

“That doesn’t show a good representation for our area at all,” he said.

Inappropriate statements

In the last week before the election, Coleman was criticized for social media comments he made concerning Herman Cain and others, saying Republicans deserved to fall ill or die if they didn’t wear a mask. His statements blew up before the election. Coleman has been a member of the Young Democrats, but ran for governor previously as an independent.

The Kansas Young Democrats on July 31 issued an apology and stated that they “strongly condemn this type of rhetoric.” The state Young Democrats also urged people to vote for Rep. Frownfelter.

Rep. Frownfelter said he was shocked by Coleman’s social media posts. Rep. Frownfelter said he had never wished anyone ill will or death because they had a difference of opinion.

Coleman wrote on social media in response to the Kansas Young Democrats apology: “What is worse, joking about someone dying. Or actions that literally kill people. The answer: both are equally disturbing and should be condemned in every instance.”

Rep. Frownfelter said in order to get anything passed in the Legislature, they need 63 votes, and the Democrats have been around 20 votes short of that. So in order to get any measures through, they need to be flexible and need to work well with Republicans, he said.

Other legislators talked Rep. Frownfelter into running again

Rep. Frownfelter earlier had been discussing retiring from the Legislature this year, and mentioned it during a televised forum while running for a Board of Public Utilities seat in 2019.

“I’ve seen my time there, it’s time for me to leave,” he said at a community candidate forum for Board of Public Utilities candidates in 2019. (The forum is online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBoLBOTUa24&list=PLMfeRPiOepX3QCrG-AjEhV6mCBb7y_43O&index=3&t=0s.)

What he meant by that, he said today, is that if he had won the BPU seat, it’s likely that he would not have run again for the state Legislature. After he lost the BPU contest, other legislators talked to him and asked him to run again, he said.

Had he announced that he would not run for certain, there would have been a lot more candidates who filed in the Democratic primary, he added.

Redistricting and importance of the 2020 election

This 2020 election is important, Rep. Frownfelter said, because redistricting will be coming up in the Legislature.

He’s been through that before, and remembers how redistricting once drastically reduced the numbers of Democrats in the Legislature, from 48 to 33, by redrawing lines that made it harder to elect Democrats in some districts.

Besides redistricting, there are other important issues that could come up in the next session, such as Medicaid expansion.

In Tuesday’s primary in the rest of the state, more than 10 moderate Republicans lost to Republican conservatives, Rep. Frownfelter said. That included Sen. John Skubal of Overland Park, as well as Rep. Jan Kessinger of Overland Park.

Republicans mounting a challenge in Wyandotte County this year; GOP to field write-in candidate in 37th District

Wyandotte County Republicans are mounting a challenge this year, according to State Sen. Kevin Braun, R-5th Dist., the county’s GOP chairman.

Sen. Braun said this year they recruited candidates for every Wyandotte County position in the state Legislature.

“People deserve to have a choice,” he said. He said it is easier for Republicans to get legislation passed in Topeka, and that would benefit Wyandotte County.

While the general election ballot will not have a Republican listed for the 37th District contest, Sen. Braun said on July 27, in the week before the election, that there is a write-in candidate for the position, Kristina Smith. Smith serves on the Wyandotte County GOP committee.

Also, Rep. Valdenia Winn, D-34th Dist., has no opposition on the general election ballot, but Sen. Braun said Kendon McClaine will run as a write-in candidate for that seat.

Coleman said on Wednesday that write-in campaigns don’t work. He said he knew because he had tried it himself in the past. People get to the polls and just choose one of the options listed on the ballot, according to Coleman.

Rep. Frownfelter said he wasn’t sure how a Republican write-in candidate would do in the 37th District, but he knows they’ll try hard. They didn’t run against him in the past because they didn’t think they could beat him, he said.

Election Commissioner Bruce Newby stated that voter registration in the 37th District was 4,928 Democratic and 2,155 Republican in 2020, with Libertarians at 99 and 4,036 unaffiliated. Both parties’ registration was up from 2019, when there were 4,815 Democrats, 2,041 Republicans, 98 Libertarians and 3,897 unaffiliated voters.

Countywide, there were 42,987 registered Democrats and 15,559 registered Republicans for the 2020 primary election, according to Newby. Numbers for both parties increased since the 2019 general election, when there were 41,146 Democrats and 15,075 Republicans.

In addition numbers increased for Libertarian voters, 769 in 2020 compared to 723 in 2019, and unaffiliated voters, 27,841 for 2020 compared with 26,993 in 2019.

There were only a relatively few party affiliation changes this year, and most increases are due to new voter registration, according to the election commissioner.

Rep. Frownfelter said he always sat down and talked to everyone in the district who wanted to talk to him, and listened. He told them where he stood on issues and always said what he meant, he said. He always tried to do his best for the district. “I fought the whole way,” he said.

The only thing to do now, Rep. Frownfelter said, is to sit and wait until Aug. 17 and the canvass, “and that’s the hardest thing to do.”

To see an earlier story on the 37th District, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/19-year-old-turner-resident-leads-by-one-vote-over-veteran-lawmaker/

19-year-old Turner resident leads by one vote over veteran lawmaker

Aaron Coleman, 19, a Demoratic candidate for state representative, 37th District, left Kansas City Monday night to go to Colorado Springs.

He was at dinner on Tuesday night when he started getting messages saying he had won the primary election over Democratic State Rep. Stan Frownfelter, 69, who has served in the Legislature since 2007. Frownfelter is the ranking minority member on the Commerce, Labor and Economic Development subcommittee.

Coleman, who ran for governor and Board of Public Utilities previously and is a precinct committeeman, said he didn’t believe it at first.

“I was expecting to lose by at least a couple of digits,” he said.

He said he doesn’t know how he won – “just hard work, I guess,” he said.

“I knocked probably about 1,000 doors in July,” Coleman said.

It was during the pandemic, and everyone was home, he added.

“I don’t think my opponent took me seriously,” he added. “I knocked on 70 percent of voters’ doors.”

He said he realizes that probably 50 ballots or so may still be out there that could come in, or not, to the Election Office by Friday. Anything postmarked by Tuesday may be counted if it arrives by Friday. It could require an automatic recount because it’s so close, he added.

Coleman said the election is a testament to the strength and power of the progressive movement.

He closely identifies with Sen. Bernie Sanders, and he said the biggest problem politics faces in both parties is money.

The difference between him and other Democrats, he said, is he has not taken $20,000 in donations from banks, telecom groups and other big donors.

“The biggest issue if we want to have a serious discussion in Kansas, is how to have representation by and for the people,” he said. “We need to ban lobbying.”

He said they need to get money out of politics.

Coleman said he supports each candidate receiving the same set amount of money and not having campaign donations, and he would support campaign reform laws.

“I believe if we have public funding of our elections, the people win each time,” Coleman said.

Rep. Frownfelter had about $19,575 on hand on July 24, with $34,354 available during the campaign reporting period, according to campaign finance reports. Coleman reported $1,939 on hand, having raised a total of $3,685, campaign finance reports stated.

Coleman said he was in favor of Medicaid expansion, but it does not go far enough. He supports universal health care, a single-payer system, sometimes called Medicaid for all.

To pay for the system, a tax on the very rich could generate enough for health care. Countries such as Switzerland, he noted, tax the rich to fund the health care system.

Coleman said Bernie Sanders was a great inspiration to him in campaigning for governor and state Senate.

“Regardless of if I win or lose, I’m just glad it even got this close,” Coleman said. “This shows the power and strength of the progressive movement, and that it works.”

Coleman currently is a dishwasher at a restaurant, and a college student at Johnson County Community College. He said he has hopes of graduating, going to the University of Kansas and entering the Air Force ROTC program, and getting his bachelor’s degree. Then he would join the Air Force for a six-year term.

He said if elected, he would like to serve two terms while in college, then go on to his career.

Coleman said he thinks the voters were saying they were sick and tired of the status quo.

“People are suffocating, dying, losing homes, jobs, lost health care, everything,” he said.

See comments from Rep. Frownfelter at https://wyandotteonline.com/election-night-totals-shocking-to-rep-frownfelter/.