Primary night in Kansas was not friendly to Moderate Republicans — with the big race on the Republican side of the ticket being Kobach/Colyer, and Democratic candidates having Governor and US House campaigns, moderates found themselves on the wrong side of elections in August, which has the potential to turn the state house more conservative — until Democratic candidates prevail this fall.
One legislator, Joy Koesten, who lost her primary fight with Americans for Prosperity (Koch Industries) didn’t take it laying down, however, and sent out a newsletter to her constituents letting them know this isn’t about a party — it is about preventing an awful, bad idea.
From her newsletter:
I’ve got nothing to lose anymore – nothing. So, I’m done tip-toeing around bad ideas. Kris Kobach is one awful, bad idea. Period.
Koesten, who was part of the moderate coalition, joined other moderates who found themselves targets of both the Kobach and Colyer campaign — both campaigns worked hard to prove their conservative roots, and a big part of that? Eliminating moderate Republicans who they believed tampered with their caucus.
Election night was tough for several other moderates in the Kansas House including Patty Markley, Anita Judd-Jenkins, Steven Becker, and Mary Martha Good. These candidates, like myself, were repeatedly attacked by ultra conservative groups like Americans For Prosperity and the Kansas Chamber. These big money special interest groups do not have the best interests on Kansans in mind; they ran ads, sent postcards, and made calls with misleading claims about all of us simply because we were not in their pocket. Kansas needs more free-thinking public servants who are willing to make the tough votes in the best interests of their districts and the state, rather than just marching in lock-step with the party line. I will put my money and time toward helping any candidate who is an honest broker of good policy and I won’t make any apologies for doing so from this point forward.
So who is that honest broker of good policy? More and more moderate Republicans are going to have to answer that question. For Joy Koesten that answer came easy: there is nothing to lose, and so speaking out against Kris Kobach was what she felt she needed to do. For moderate Republicans still in a race for a seat this fall, having cleared their primary, the question is: do they say something? Or, do they stay silent on the fact that someone that most of them believe privately to be repugnant is now the head of their party?
Koesten’s email is certainly the first — but it is doubtful her appraisal of Kobach as a awful, bad idea will be the last.