Wyandotte teen who lost party’s support over Facebook comments wins Kansas House race
Democrat Aaron Coleman, a 19-year-old candidate for the Kansas House 37th District seat, won his primary contest against Wyandotte County political mainstay Stan Frownfelter after final results were counted Monday.
Coleman, who has been roundly criticized by Kansas Democrats for crass comments about a former Kansas Republican lawmaker, received 823 votes to Frownfelter’s 809.
Coleman held a one-vote lead when unofficial results were posted on Aug. 4. That margin grew to five votes on Aug. 7.
In the end, Coleman won by 14 votes after the Wyandotte County Board of Canvassers looked over which provisional ballots to accept or reject on Monday.
Frownfelter has until 5 p.m. Tuesday to request a recount. He would have to pay about $2,000, according to Wyandotte County election commissioner Bruce Newby.
Reached by phone, Frownfelter said he is considering a recount and a write-in campaign. He said he would decide after meeting with some supporters Monday afternoon.
“The recount we will probably do,” Frownfelter said.
Coleman said when he filed to run for office in April, he had no expectation of winning but wanted to start a conversation in his district.
“I’m just as shocked as anybody at the results,” Coleman said, adding that he still planned to serve in office if his victory holds up.
Rep. Tom Sawyer, Wichita Democrat and House Minority Leader, said Coleman was not cut out to be a state representative.
“I am disappointed in the results of today’s canvass of District 37. Mr. Coleman does not represent the values of House Democrats,” Sawyer said in a statement. “Representative Frownfelter has served his community with integrity and the best interests of his constituents always in mind. We will now explore what options are available to us to right this situation as we move forward, as Mr. Coleman has continuously proven himself unfit to serve in the Kansas Legislature.”
In response, Coleman said, “For the next three months, I’m going to keep my head low and work hard to keep this district blue.”
No Republican filed to run for the 37th District. The Kansas Republican Party supported a write-in candidacy before the primary for Kristina Smith, a paralegal and the treasurer for the Wyandotte County Republican Party. Kansas GOP leaders said Monday they would continue supporting Smith’s write-in campaign for the general election.
“Aaron Coleman is clearly unfit to serve in the Kansas Legislature,” said Shannon Golden, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party, in an email to The Star. “His previous statements and actions are extremely disgusting and someone who holds women and human life in such contempt should have no place in public office. The Kansas Democratic Party’s silence on Aaron Coleman is disturbing.”
Coleman was among several teenagers who unsuccessfully ran for governor in Kansas in 2018.
He returned to challenge Frownfelter in the Democratic primary for the 37th House district, which covers portions of northeast Wyandotte County.
Frownfelter has served in the House since 2007 and is well-known among Democrats in Wyandotte County for his support of organized labor and issues such as the minimum wage. Frownfelter last year ran for a seat on the Board of Public Utilities, the ratepayer-owned electric and water utility in Wyandotte County, but came up short in the general election to incumbent Jeff Bryant.
Coleman struck a more progressive plank in his bid for office, advocating universal health coverage and defunding police.
He raised $3,685 in contributions, $1,500 of it from Coleman’s loans to his own campaigns. Another $975 came from family members.
The rest of his support was a smattering of modest donations from varied sources.
Matthew Calcara, a progressive political activist, donated $50 and $25 to Coleman’s campaign in April and June, respectively.
Calcara in a text message declined to comment “other than to note that my donations occurred well before any of the crazy stuff came out” and that he donates to many Kansas Democrats.
Another Coleman donor who asked not to be named said he wanted to help along a young candidate interested in politics but “Had I known at the beginning what I now know, I wouldn’t have supported him. I thought he was more level-headed.”
Coleman spent $2,243 of his contributions largely on Facebook advertisements, yard signs and door hangers, campaign finance records show.
Frownfelter raised $14,030 since Jan. 1 largely from various industry political action committees.
Coleman’s candidacy was overtaken just prior to the August primary with reaction to comments on social media, reported by the Kansas Reflector, that showed Coleman saying he would laugh if former GOP lawmaker John Whitmer died of COVID-19.
Coleman later acknowledged that his comments were inappropriate. Other Democrats denounced Coleman, including Overland Park Rep. Brett Parker.
The Star subsequently reported that Coleman in middle school obtained a nude photograph of a girl and threatened to disseminate it to others if she did not send other nude photographs to him.
“He got one of my nudes and blackmailed me with it and told me if I didn’t send him more he would (send) it to all of my friends and family,” she wrote on social media. “And when I didn’t send him more, he sent it to everyone I knew. I don’t know how he got the picture. All I know is he’s an awful person and he should not be allowed to run for anything.”
Another woman told The Star that Coleman bullied her persistently in sixth grade to the point that she attempted suicide.
Coleman told the Associated Press that The Star’s account of the women’s allegations were accurate.
Coleman, who told the AP that he did not expect to win, said he has “grown a great deal” since his behavior toward women in middle school.
If Coleman’s victory is sustained after a possible recount and the November general election, it may prove difficult for him to gain support among fellow Democrats.
“I disavow any comments that were made by the young man,” said Rep. Tom Burroughs, a Kansas City Democrat. “That is not my type of Democrat.”
How, then, did Coleman manage to apparently slip by an established Democrat like Frownfelter?
“Stan is well known but you have to convince the voters you’re the best person,” Burroughs said.
Burroughs said write-in campaigns are “tall mountains to climb” but didn’t discount the possibility of Frownfelter’s potential for success if he decides to pursue such an undertaking, owing to the incumbent’s recognition among voters and the disclosures made about Coleman’s behavior.
“There’s a potential here that voters become more educated,” Burroughs said.
Coleman said he planned to continue campaigning this fall.
“I enjoy very much any time the opportunity to meet people in my district,” Coleman said. “I look very much to the opportunity this fall to knock on more doors than I have ever knocked before.”
This story was originally published August 17, 2020 at 2:34 PM.
