Kansas' immense first congressional district, which takes up all of western Kansas and most of the northern part of the state, consists of 61 counties and parts of 2 others. Once a bastion of populism, today it's one of the most rural districts in the country (88%) and one of the most Republican. KS-01 hasn't been friendly territory for Democrats.
Dan McCarthy, a right-wing Arizona Republican skincare company executive who is challenging Martha McSally for her Senate seat next year, told a Phoenix radio audience this week that "the Washington DC establishment, Mitch McConnell... the swamp creatures of Washington, DC-- they've given us two choices, McSally or Kelly. I'm a conservative outsider. I've been looking at this for a little while and I said, 'I'm not so sure if that's acceptable to me; I'd don't know if the status quo's OK...
The 2 counties that supply the majority of voters for Kansas' second congressional district are Shawnee (70,262 votes in 2018) and Douglas (49,416 in 2018). Both went blue, Douglas overwhelmingly. But KS-02 is still represented by a Republican. With Republican Lynn Jenkins retiring, it was an open seat.
Potential game-changers Kris Kobach and Tom SteyerFor context, in case you already forgot what Justin Amash told Jake Tapper Sunday: the political system is completely broken and dysfunctional.
Two silly propositions: Mayor Trumpanzee, Jr. or King Kobach. Let's start with Fredo. According to Cindy Adams, Junior is telling acquaintances he wants to run for mayor. Staten Island doesn't have a mayor.
And, so far... a waste of a House seat. Better than Kevin Yoder, thoughKansas' 3rd district (Wyandotte and Johnson counties and some of more rural Miami County) flipped red to blue in 2018. Basically, the district is Kansas City and it's suburbs, a swing district that Obama lost narrowly twice but that Hillary won, also narrowly (one point), in 2016. The district is 72.8% white, 11.6% Latino, 8.6% African-American and 4.2% Asian.
Thursday we saw that Kansas state Senator Barbara Bollier, from the suburbs south of Kansas City, had quit the GOP and joined the Democrats. I ended with a question:
From a Laura Kelly ad that drove the GOP insaneNumerically, Kansas Republicans won't even feel the loss. The state Senate in Topeka has 40 members. Until yesterday there were 30 Republicans, 9 Democrats and an Independent. Today there are 39 Republicans, 10 Democrats and an Independent. No, there was no special election, instead state Senator Barbara Bollier switched parties.
Team Trumpanzee could have hardly timed their ill-advised trade war better-- for congressional Democrats. Yesterday, Ben White at Politico reported that Señor T's "trade battles are already triggering economic warnings-- and rising danger for Republicans just ahead of the midterm elections."
