Republican governors are spending almost half as much in Kansas as they did four years ago when they helped re-elect Gov. Sam Brownback.
Campaign finance reports filed this week show that two political action committees affiliated with the Republican Governors Association have spent about $2.3 million through Oct. 25, the date the last reporting period closed.
It’s about $1.8 million, or 44 percent less, than what the association’s Kansas political action committee and a related group called the American Comeback Committee spent during the 2014 election, when Brownback defeated Paul Davis.
RGA spokesman Jon Thompson said in an email that he wouldn’t compare the 2018 Kansas governor’s race to the 2014 contest between Brownback and Davis.
“It’s a different nominee with a different electorate and different top issues,” Thompson wrote. “We make spending decisions based on … different variables, and invest in markets that will help us have more of an impact.”
Republican gubernatorial nominee Kris Kobach has been struggling to keep up with Democrat Laura Kelly in fundraising in a race in which the two leading candidates are just a couple percentage points apart.
Kelly led Kobach by almost a $1 million as of Oct. 25, raking in $2.3 million in about three months. It was more than what Brownback raised in 2014 or 2010 and more than what former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius raised in 2006.
New last-minute reports filed with the state Thursday showed that Kobach has raised about $100,000 more since Oct. 26. Meanwhile, Kelly has raised about $108,000.
The Kobach campaign could not be reached for comment early Thursday night.
One Kansas political consultant suggested that the difference between now and 2014 is that Brownback had a closer relationship to the RGA and its chairman at the time, then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Christie visited Kansas a couple times in 2014 to stump for Brownback in that campaign.
“It goes back to the relationship Sam had with the RGA in ’14 that Kris has never had,” the consultant said.
Republican insiders have suggested that Kobach is not the best at raising money because he’s doesn’t take the time to cultivate the relationships needed to attract donors.
This year, the governors association’s Kansas PAC spent about $1.45 million for Kobach. Another group called the American Comeback Committee, which has been characterized as “related” to the RGA, spent about $808,000.
At this point in 2014, the RGA had spent about $3.7 million for Brownback, and the American Comeback Committee had spent another $390,000.
Wichita State University political scientist Neal Allen said he wouldn’t conflate RGA spending with the political implications of the Republican Congressional Committee withdrawing from Republican Kevin Yoder’s congressional campaign.
“Those kind of organizations tend to support incumbents more than they do challengers,” Allen said. “Incumbents are part of their fundraising apparatus.”
Allen also points out that Republicans are playing defense this election cycle. The GOP now holds the governor’s office in 33 states, and this year 26 of those seats are up for election, including hot races in Georgia and Florida.
He also suggested that the GOP is more interested in bigger states where redistricting will play a larger role in shaping Congress after the 2020 census.
Then there’s Kobach himself, a colorful and controversial figure in American politics because of his hardline positions on illegal immigration and his relationship with President Donald Trump.
Just Wednesday night, a CNN legal analyst mixed it up with Kobach on national television over the secretary of state’s citizenship requirement for voting that’s been struck down as unconstitutional.
“Is it possible that the Republican Governors Association and the national Republican Party in general would rather back somebody besides Kris Kobach? That’s probably true,” Allen said. “I bet Jeff Colyer would have gotten more support.”
