Kansas GOP chair backs off proposal kicking minority, women’s groups from key committees
The Kansas Republican Party appears to be backing off a proposal to kick elected officials and groups representing Black, Hispanic, female and young Republicans off of key party governing boards.
Kansas GOP Chair Mike Brown Friday asked the party rules committee to reconsider a proposal that would remove representatives of groups aimed at expanding the party’s base from the state executive committee and the party state committee. The proposal would also oust state and federal GOP elected officials from the board.
The committee approved the policy last week. Brown would need to bring it to the party’s full state committee for a vote for it to take effect. The idea garnered swift backlash from Republicans in Kansas and nationally on the grounds that it would harm representation in the state party while consolidating power for Brown, its hard-right chairman.
“Based upon the concerns expressed to me and the impact the Rules Committee’s Resolution is having on the Party and its members, I have directed the Rules Committee to meet and reconsider its recent recommendation to the State Committee to change the makeup of the members of the Executive Committee,” Brown said in an email Friday. “I believe this recommendation to reconsider will allow our Party to refocus on expanding our Party and winning elections.”
“Our Party, the Party of Lincoln, the Party that championed woman’s suffrage and Civil Rights has and will continue to support all of our GOP members’ full involvement in our Party,” he added.
Brown’s statement was followed by a joint statement from the four Republican congressional district chairs urging the committee to withdraw the proposal which “shocks the conscience.”
“A simple promise to not bring it up this summer does not suffice, as even sending the signal that the party is even considering this extreme action risks further irreparable harm each day it remains a potential point of discussion,” the statement said. “It is unacceptable to the vast majority of Republicans and we will not rest until it is defeated, one way or the other.”
Following Brown’s announcement, Ben Sauceda, chair of the Kansas Republican National Hispanic Assembly, said Brown needed to repudiate the proposal rather than simply ask for it to be reconsidered. The chair of the rules committee and everyone who promoted the policy, he said, needed to step down from their positions.
“This has been disastrous to our party and not just to our party but also to the hundreds of thousands within our state that are represented outside of the, what I would call, party apparatus,” Sauceda said.
“Anyone who promotes and puts forth ideas like this has no business in leadership.”
Michael Austin, Chair of the Black Republican Council, said Republicans had sent a clear message that they are better together.
“Yet, a Rules Committee reconsideration, by itself, falls short as a remedy for the rule that nearly caused our party’s demise,” he added in a statement. “We call for bold leadership that eradicates any notion of such rules haunting our party in the future.”
This week the National Republican Hispanic Committee and National Black Conservative Federation condemned the move and urged the party to reverse course.
Kansas’ Republican National Committee members Mark Kahrs and Kim Borchers said in a statement Friday that the rule would be a losing strategy after a decade of the party spending “vast resources” to attract women, minorities and young people.
The Kansas Democratic Party issued its own statement Thursday condemning the move and presenting itself as an inclusive alternative.
“We Democrats are a ‘big tent’ party, and while it can often be difficult to find common ground all the time, having many perspectives in the room is essential to the democratic process,” Jeanna Repass, the first woman of color to serve as chair of the party, said.
This story was originally published May 19, 2023 at 11:25 AM.
