Kansas should be ‘more like what Ron DeSantis has in Florida,’ Schmidt tells rally
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt sought to build his conservative credentials Sunday, appearing alongside Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and pledging to mimic his policies if he is elected governor.
“I want a future for our great state of Kansas that looks a whole lot more like Ron DeSantis has in Florida,” Schmidt, a fellow Republican, said at a rally in Olathe.
He promised to support DeSantis’ policies in schools — restricting instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in early school grades, barring transgender athletes from girls sports and approving a “parents bill of rights.”
“I think America’s education governor currently resides in Tallahassee, not Topeka,” Schmidt said — referencing his opponent, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, who has focused much of her campaign on education funding.
The event came three days after DeSantis made headlines, and sparked national outrage, for flying two planes full of Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard. Schmidt repeated a statement he gave The Star last week praising the move, which DeSantis told the crowd was designed to expose hypocrisy in sanctuary cities.
“Now we see that’s just self congratulatory virtue signaling,” DeSantis said. “You can’t run society without the rule of law.”
DeSantis, a potential presidential contender in 2024, has become a national figure because of his frequent clashes with President Joe Biden, as well as for his hard-line social conservative policies and his penchant for theatrical political stunts.
His visit to Kansas was part of a nationwide tour stumping in battleground races including Pennsylvania, Arizona and Ohio. After leaving Olathe, DeSantis was scheduled to fly to Wisconsin for a similar event later Sunday afternoon.
Kansas governor’s race
Schmidt’s contest against Kelly is among the most competitive gubernatorial races in the country. Kelly is the only Democratic incumbent running for reelection in a state former President Donald Trump carried in 2020.
Though Schmidt won the GOP nomination without organized opposition, he has been the object of discontent from some on the right who see him as too moderate.
State Sen. Dennis Pyle left the Republican party to challenge Schmidt and Kelly as an independent. He has painted the candidates as ideologically identical and presented himself as the true conservative in the race.
For some attendees at Sunday’s event, that message resonated.
Judy Roberts, a retired teacher from Lenexa, said she would vote for Schmidt, but she wasn’t “gung-ho” about it because she viewed him as “wishy-washy” when discussing his plans.
Pat and Tom Bates, members of Kansans for Health Freedom from Lawrence, said they hoped DeSantis’ support would push Schmidt further to the right.
“When he’s tempted to kowtow to the RINOs (Republicans in name only) then hopefully he’ll remember DeSantis would never do that,” Pat Bates said.
Jim Kutney, from Lenexa, said he’d arrived to see DeSantis and didn’t know who Schmidt was. DeSantis’ support, he said, made a good impression.
“DeSantis is really going to be a hit to endorse this relatively unknown person,” Kutney said.
Kelly’s campaign used the event to claim Schmidt lacked sufficient in-state support and to point to a growing list of moderate Republicans supporting her.
“Unlike Derek Schmidt, who has to bring out-of-state, divisive politicians to Kansas for support, Governor Kelly’s common-sense leadership has built a bi-partisan coalition of support from Kansans,” Kelly spokeswoman Madison Andrus said.
DeSantis’ conservative record
DeSantis has pushed for far right policies in Florida, often targeting LGBTQ Floridians. He signed a bill banning instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades. His administration also barred Medicaid from covering the costs of gender affirming care.
On Thursday, DeSantis took credit for flying two planes full of undocumented immigrants, mostly Venezuelan migrants in Texas, to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, causing uproar nationwide. His office said it was part of a plan to relocate undocumented immigrants to sanctuary cities.
The Miami Herald reported that these migrants were placed on planes and promised housing and jobs. They were not told that they were going to Martha’s Vineyard or that local officials didn’t know they were coming.
Speaking to the Olathe crowd, DeSantis spent nearly an hour touting his own record in Florida and insisting Schmidt could bring that same record to Kansas. He framed efforts to elect conservatives as a fight for the relevance of Middle America.
“You’ve got to realize the stakes are high,” DeSantis said. “They’re trying to de-legitimize our institutions, they’re trying to de-legitimize our history and they want their leftism to be the founding principles of our society.”
Kelly as Kansas’ governor, DeSantis said, is “like having Biden as governor.”
Throughout his speech, Schmidt attracted at least one heckler but drew applause as he touted his record of suing the Obama and Biden administrations.
References to parental rights in education, 2020 school closures and transgender athletes in sports earned him standing ovations.
“Governors like Ron DeSantis showed it was possible to keep our kids safe and keep them in school,” Schmidt said. “My opponent has now said multiple times that she makes no apologies for locking your kids out of their schools.”
Elaine, a 30 year-old mother of three from Overland Park, said she was drawn to Schmidt because of his positions on education. She asked to be identified only by her first name for fear of retribution at work.
“He’s really big on family values and getting our schools back to the basics,” she said.
Protesters have their say
While DeSantis’ education policies sparked the most energy inside the rally they also motivated protesters outside the venue.
Before the rally, about 50 people gathered outside to protest DeSantis’ arrival. They chanted “DeSantis get out of Kansas” and held signs with phrases like “Take your hate back to Florida” and “Protect trans students.”
Rep. Heather Meyer, an Overland Park Democrat and the first openly bisexual member of the Kansas House of Representatives, criticized Schmidt in an email for attacking the LGBTQ community and for appearing with DeSantis.
“Kansans don’t need out-of-state extremists peddling hate in our communities and putting vulnerable children and families at risk for their own political gain. This is not the type of leadership that we need or want, and proves that Derek Schmidt is out of touch with Kansans,” Meyer said.
Members of Gardner Edgerton High School’s Young Activists for Change showed up to protest DeSantis and his anti-LGBTQ policies. They worried Schmidt would try to emulate them in Kansas, such as a bill that bars educators from discussing LGBTQ issues in the classroom.
On Friday, the high school group helped organize a walkout against their district’s proposal to ban trans students from the bathroom of their choice and to require staff to inform parents, against students’ will, of their choice of pronouns.
“Kansas has already proven we don’t stand for (DeSantis’) ideas anyway,” said Elizabeth Fiedler, a student who started the group. “We voted no Aug. 2 with a loud majority, and we continue with all of the people here fighting to stop policies like this from even being put into place.”
DeSantis’ events have been hosted by the conservative group Turning Point Action and have drawn controversy around the country for restrictions on press coverage. A press credentialing form for the Kansas event asked media organizations to agree to restrictions on video and audio recording. It also included a broad provision that stated “Turning Point Action shall have the final say on all matters.”
The Star objected to these terms and was granted a waiver to ensure independent coverage of Schmidt’s rally with DeSantis.
The Star’s Andrea Klick contributed to this report.
This story was originally published September 18, 2022 at 5:06 PM.
