In two weeks, Kansas and Missouri will have their state and federal primaries.  (There are also primaries in Arizona, Michigan, and Washington.)  While on the Missouri side of the state line, the biggest race is actually a ballot issue (Medicare expansion which is expected to pass), Kansas has some major races on the Republican primary ballot.

The big one is the U.S. Senate race.  The incumbent Senator — Pat Roberts — is a conservative Republican.  However, that is not enough to guarantee a win in the Republican primary, and Senator Roberts had a tough race in 2014 (only getting 48% of the primary vote for an 8% margin).   Senator Roberts has  decided that forty years in Congress (sixteen in the House and twenty-four in the Senate) is enough and it’s time to enjoy retirement.  And eleven Republicans decided that their names would sound so much better with Senator in front of it.

At this point in the race, it appears that there are three major contenders.  The establishment choice is very conservative Representative Roger Marshall.  Marshall represents the first district of Kansas which covers western and north central Kansas.  Meanwhile, the Tea Party candidate is Spawn of Satan Kris Kobach.  Folks may remember former Secretary of State Kobach as the Republican who lost the governor’s seat in 2018 or as the author of much of the anti-immigrant legislation passed over the past decade.  Finally, there is Bob (Hamilton) the plumber.  Hamilton runs a highly successful plumbing company in the Kansas City area and is trying to paint himself as a Trump clone. Continue Reading...