A Little Goes a Long Way in Kansas
So says its former Governor Kathleen Sebelius, who recently spoke with The States Project stakeholders about what's at stake in her home state.
Kansas doesn’t have the electoral power punch that swing states have, but we’ve swung plenty of punches nationwide—most notably the metastasizing of bogus “election fraud” policies, which were hatched right here on the range by our former Secretary of State and current Attorney General, Kris Kobach. Kobach invented the notion of election fraud. He helped drive electoral shenanigans in Texas, the former president’s smarmy administration, and other states.
We’ve had heartbreaking near-misses that would have had happier endings but for a handful of votes. In 2020, some Kansas House representatives won (or lost) by margins of under 100 votes, sometimes 40 or 50.
And here we are today, with a Supermajority that has stymied our governor’s every move. It is hell bent on breaking the knee caps of our State Supreme Court, the only other bulwark we’ve got against it. That court struck down this House’s efforts to remove our reproductive rights despite Kansans roundly supporting them—twice—at the ballot box. Our Supermajority will work to change how the court is selected so they (instead of judicial panels) can select its members.
Along with reproductive rights, the House is actively working against the wishes of its constituents in two other major realms: education and health care. By wide margins, Kansans want Medicare expansion—but the House refuses even to bring it up for a vote. And public education in Kansas is crumbling under a budget that allocates ever-increasing taxpayer funds to private, religious schools.
Sebelius also notes that Kansas is a cheap date. Compared with many states, we have a modest budget and an inexpensive media market. That means investments in our work to break the Supermajority in the House will stretch a long way. We can bring funding back to public education, expand Medicare, and cement our reproductive rights. We can do it by flipping only TWO seats in the House and THREE in the Senate.
This is doable. We don’t need a lot. But we need it now.
Won’t you help us? Belly up to Ad Astra Per Aspera and toss in whatever you can.