Could Bollier flip KS? Three national outlets examine ‘once-in-a-century’ possibility
As the Kansas Senate race appears to be tightening — to within single digits, according to internal polling obtained by The Star this week — national interest is growing.
CNN’s Chris Cillizza noted Thursday that while Republican Rep. Roger Marshall remained the favorite, “the fact that the race is even marginally competitive speaks to how much the state has changed in just the last four years under President Donald Trump.” Cillizza said that while polling is limited, Trump’s 21-point margin in 2016 now appears somewhere between “mid -single digit to low-double-digit range — a far cry from his dominance” last time.
Democrat Barbara Bollier’s strong fund-raising, Trump’s unpopularity and his lack of support in the suburbs all figure into what Cillizza called a possible “once-in-a century moment in Kansas,” which hasn’t elected a Democratic Senator since 1932
“The Lily,” a Washington Post publication committed to women’s coverage, spent some time with Bollier for a piece that posted Thursday, its first in a series on women could flip House and Senate seats.
Reporter Caroline Kitchener opens with a scene from a Bollier event in Great Bend — part of Marshall’s sprawling western Kansas congressional district — where Trump supporters honked car horns and yelled from their windows trying to disrupt her speech.
Bollier, Kitchener writes, had the crowd turn to wave at them before doing the same herself.
“Wouldn’t it have been nicer if they had come in and visited?” Bollier asked. “Because we have a lot to talk about.”
Washington Monthly, a not-for-profit magazine with a left-center bias according to the site Media Bias Fact Check, recently highlighted how Kansas’ long conservative history favored Marshall’s chances. Still, writer Nancy LeTourneau said, “Bollier actually has a shot,” in part because Kansas Republicans worry about “ticket splitters who support the president but plan to vote for Bollier.”
Marshall’s chances got a boost Thursday. Politico reported that the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC with ties to Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, was going to spend an additional $7.2 million in Kansas on Marshall’s behalf starting next week. That same PAC also spent heavily on Marshall during the primary, helping him defeat Kris Kobach, among other challengers.
