(Updated to reflect late night Sunday results of 3rd District poll)
Good morning everyone:
Races are heating up everywhere with six weeks left – or 45 days if you’re counting – before the Nov. 6 general election.
We saw a week of action in the 2nd Congressional District where a super PAC revisited Paul Davis and the strip club raid from 20 years ago in a new ad and Sharice Davids and Kevin Yoder can’t get together on a debate. We’ve also seen Democrat Laura Kelly and Republican Kris Kobach – or their surrogates – go back and forth over taxes and education funding.
And before we go any further, if you haven’t already, please answer our little survey to give us an idea of how well we have served you in the first six months of operation. It should take a minute – literally.
Now let’s catch you up on what you might have missed in recent days and throughout the last week.
New 3rd District polling
Everyone has been captivated with the live polling done by the New York Times in partnership with Siena College. Judging by social media, some folks love it, others think it’s nonsense.
Late last week, they started a new live poll in the Kansas 3rd District, where only one poll has been publicly released showing Democrat Sharice Davids with a three-point lead over Republican incumbent Congressman Kevin Yoder.
By late Sunday, the New York Times/Siena polled showed Sharice Davids leading Yoder 51 percent to 43 percent with 6 percent still undecided. The poll surveyed 494 people and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.7 percentage points.
A couple findings from the poll:
- Yoder’s unfavorables outdistanced his favorable rating 49 percent to 40 percent with 10 percent unsure.
- Davids’ favorables were at 44 percent to 32 percent who viewed her unfavorably. Twenty-four percent unsure.
- Fifty-six percent of those of in the district didn’t support Trump, who had tweeted support for Yoder. Forty-one percent supported Trump and 3 percent of those polled were undecided.
- Forty-eight percent supported the tax reforms passed by Congress earlier this year compared to 46 percent opposed and 6 percent were undecided on the issue.
- And from the current headlines, 48 percent of the district opposed Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. Forty-two percent supported his nomination and 9 percent didn’t know.
Ice cream lobby aiding James Thompson
Never thought ice cream could be political? Well, in a world where everything seems polarized, your favorite ice cream just might be, too. Could liking chocolate make you liberal or conservative?
The two guys who brought you Ben & Jerry’s ice cream – Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield – are teaming up with Moveon.org to help promote seven progressive candidates, including Democrat James Thompson, who is challenging Republican Congressman Ron Estes in the Kansas 4th Congressional District.
Ben and Jerry (the people not the corporation) are trying to come up with ice cream flavors and names reflecting each candidate. They’ll pick a winner and make a carton they’ll raffle off to help support the candidates. You can only help but wonder whether Congressman Estes has a flavor in mind for his challenger.
Here’s some more coverage on this unique marketing approach from Politico, CNN and Fox News. It just makes you wonder what kind of political clout Willy Wonka might have wielded.
Super PAC spends millions in Kansas
If you watch any television in eastern Kansas, it’s hard missing a political campaign commercial that hasn’t been paid for by the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super political action committee with ties to House Speaker Paul Ryan.
Using data from ad tracker Kantar Media, CNN reports that the super PAC has put more money in the Kansas 2nd District Congressional race than any other district in the country. The Kansas 3rd District was fourth on the list. The super PAC has put $3.3 million into both races combined.
CNN reports that the super PAC poured $1.9 million into the 2nd District race, where Democrat Paul Davis is running against Republican Steve Watkins to flip a seat now held by retiring Republican Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins.
Meanwhile, CNN also reported that the super PAC has spent $1.4 million defending the 3rd District where Republican incumbent Kevin Yoder is battling Democratic challenger Sharice Davids.
New farm group enters 1st District race
A very interesting story out of the 1st Congressional District where a new super political action committee is spending gobs of money opposing Republican incumbent Roger Marshall.
The Hutchinson News’ Mary Clarkin reveals how a Salina farm equipment manufacturer created a super PAC at the end of August to make independent expenditures against Marshall, who faces a challenge from Democrat Alan LaPolice.
The super PAC has already spent about $102,000 on digital ads, cable advertising and ad production. It’s not like the spending in the Kansas 2nd and 3rd Districts, but it does spice things up a little out west.
New Schmidt campaign manager
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has hired Michael Murray as his new campaign manager.
Murray is a Topeka native and a graduate of Washburn Rural High School and Kansas State University.
Before joining Schmidt’s campaign in August, Murray served as campaign manager for Republican state Sen. Caryn Tyson’s congressional campaign in the 2nd District.
Murray also previously worked in U.S. Senator Pat Roberts’ office as well as the senator’s 2014 re-election campaign.
Schmidt is running for re-election against Democrat Sarah Swain, who engendered controversy earlier this year over a poster in her law office showing Wonder Woman with her lasso of truth around a cop’s neck. The Democratic Party condemned the poster and has since distanced itself from the candidate.
New Estes campaign manager
Republican U.S. Rep. Ron Estes has hired Debbie Luper of Andover as his campaign manager.
A lifelong resident of Kansas 4th District, Luper is veteran operative and strategist with extensive campaign management experience at the local, state and federal levels.
“Rep. Ron Estes has assembled an excellent campaign team who has the network, skills and experience necessary to execute a robust and winning campaign,” Luper said in a statement.
Luper’s LinkedIn profile shows she has worked as Estes’ district director since April 2017. She also worked as a chief of staff for Republican state Sen. Ty Masterson when he was chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
She also worked as field operations director for former Gov. Sam Brownback’s re-election campaign in 2014 and statewide field director for Todd Tiahrt’s campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2009 and 2010.
Long trains
No one likes to get stuck at an intersection blocked by a train.
It’s why you should pay attention to the unfolding courtroom battle over whether the state has the authority to limit how long a train can block an intersection.
Last week, a state appeals court panel heard BNSF Railway’s challenge to a Kansas law limiting how long trains can interfere with traffic at a railroad crossing.
BNSF contends that the state has no authority over the railroad because it’s involved in interstate commerce. The state contends that interpretation of the law means your wait might be an eternity.
Here’s some coverage from the Wichita Eagle on the case.
Court fees
A story flying under the radar last week was a report issued by a special task force created to study local bonding practices, fines, and fees of the Kansas’ municipal court system.
The task force was created last year following a national initiative to improve community court practices, some of which had been criticized for disproportionately affecting the less affluent.
The issue bubbled up a couple years ago when advocacy groups started questioning local court policies nationwide, contending that they were designed as a cash machine.
The committee’s 18 recommendations included encouraging cities to make fines and court costs more uniform for traffic tickets and low-level misdemeanors as well as authorizing municipal and district judges to modify mandatory minimum fines when there is sufficient evidence of inability to pay.
Other recommendations included increasing the credit for community service performed to satisfy court-imposed sanctions as well as establishing guidelines for writing off fines for traffic offenses and misdemeanors when collection efforts haven’t been successful.
Crossover party endorsements
Lots of headlines being made in Kansas this year with Republicans endorsing Democrats, or namely one Democrat, gubernatorial candidate Laura Kelly.
But Governing magazine had an interesting story out last week that shows what we’re seeing in Kansas is playing out across the country, including Democrats who won’t back one of their own in places such as Arizona and Maryland.
The story uses Kansas – and former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum’s support for Kelly – as a jumping off point to look at what’s happening nationally.
Orman in the news
Independent candidate Greg Orman last week visited Emporia where he was a guest lecturer at Emporia State. He also stopped and talked to the Emporia Gazette where he discussed his agenda.
