In August, Daily Kos endorsed its first-ever Secretary of State candidate, Ohio's Nina Turner. Just two weeks later, the Daily Kos elections team identified and endorsed three more candidates: Kate Marshall (Nevada), Brad Anderson (Iowa), and John Neguse (Colorado).
All four races are important in the effort to beat back the Republican tactics of suppressing the vote in critical states. And now one more option presents itself, a golden opportunity to oust ultra-conservative Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who is the author of the SB 1070 legislation, the single worst immigration policy in the United States.
New polling shows a dead heat (tied 46-46) in the race for Kansas Secretary of State, with recent gains for Democratic candidate Jean Schodorf.
Today, Daily Kos is proud to announce that we are officially endorsing Jean Schodorf for Secretary of State in Kansas. This is a golden opportunity to remove one of the single most partisan officials anywhere in the country, one who's hell-bent on disenfranchising voters at every turn, suspending the voting rights of approximately 20,000 voters in Kansas.
About Jean Schodorf:
Jean represented the 25th District in the Kansas Senate for over a decade. In the Senate, Jean earned positions as the Chair of both the Education committee and the Legislative Educational Planning Committee. She also served as Vice Chair of the Joint Committee on Arts and Cultural Resources and as a member of the Budget, Judiciary and Commerce committees.
Jean Schodorf on the issues:
The best display of why I am the best choice for voters lies within my plan to restore common sense to the system of elections in Kansas. While the current secretary of state works for states and constituencies around the nation to further his extremist personal agenda, he has continued to forget about the voters he was elected to serve. Stating publicly several times that he is “proud” of the fact his administration of the office has stranded over one in four potential Kansas voters on a suspense list, I know that such an attitude is fool-hardy. I will restore common sense to the office, and work to empower voters and not restrict them.
Although Jean Schodorf does support a voter ID law that requires photo identification, she's stated that
she would remove any burden to voters by providing free identification cards. You can learn more about where Jean Schodorf stands on the issues
here.
With incumbent Republican Senator Pat Roberts in deep trouble against Independent Greg Orman and Democrat Paul Davis surging to a lead in the race for governor, a win for Jean Schodorf would be another huge blow to Republican leadership in Kansas.
It's certainly been a rough road for Kansans, but together we can seize this moment and send Kris Kobach packing.
Can you chip in $5 to help elect Jean Schodorf and get Kansas back on the right path?