Dem
52
Ties
3
GOP
45
Adam Hamilton, the very moderate, and unabashedly Christian, Democrat trying to unseat Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) has picked up a couple of interesting endorsements in the last week or so. The first is from Bill Graves and the second is from Mike Hayden. Both are lifelong Republicans and both served as governor of Kansas; from 1995-2003 and 1987-91, respectively. Hamilton also has the backing of Gov. Laura Kelly (D-KS) and three former Democratic governors, John W. Carlin, Mark Parkinson and Kathleen Sebelius. Marshall has zero former governors on his side, and at this point the pickings are slim, because the only living governors left are a Republican who was so unpopular he decided to resign (Sam Brownback) and a Republican who was never elected and was rejected by voters when he tried to win a term in his own right (Jeff Colyer).
We are not exactly writing this item, however, because a Republican or two crossed the aisle in a red state. That happens in every election, in both directions. Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), for example, has made some endorsements this cycle that have his colleagues tearing their hair out. The reason we are writing this item is because we think that Hayden's op-ed, in which he endorsed Hamilton, is illuminating. Here's the key portion:
Governing should always center around the best interests of the people.
Right now, our sitting senator, Roger Marshall, is failing to live up to that standard.
I grew up in western Kansas, around the farmers and fields that feed the world.
Kansans work hard. In return, they deserve champions in Congress who fight for them every day.
But the policies currently coming out of Washington are leaving them behind.
Chaotic tariffs are making it harder for Kansas farmers to sell what they grow.
The war with Iran is causing record-high diesel prices, driving up the cost of planting, harvesting, and hauling, and more family farms are at risk of going bankrupt.
Sen. Marshall time and again has chosen to back the tariffs and the war, despite what is happening back in Kansas. Kansans need a senator willing to stand up and say this isn't working, and to press for relief and real solutions.
This is not especially profound, or even especially well written. However, our deeply ingrained sense of American politics has made it very hard for us to fully accept some of the wild polls coming out of places like Kansas, Iowa, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, etc. Reading Hayden's words made it seem truly plausible to us, perhaps for the first time, that folks in the heartland are really, really mad about the impacts of Trump's policies, and are angry at the Republicans who have chosen not to rein him in, and are going to make their feelings known at the polls.
Incidentally, in a bit of very related news, Cook Political Report just moved three more Senate races in the Democrats' direction. North Carolina went from "Lean Democrat" to "Likely Democrat." New Hampshire went from "Toss Up" to "Lean Democrat." And Kansas went from "Lean Republican" to "Toss Up." Kansas, a state that has not sent a Democrat to the Senate since the year it gave its Electoral Votes to then-New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt, is now a Toss Up. These are very interesting times, indeed. (Z)