Aaron Coleman wins election, tweets about ‘hit’ on Kansas Gov. Kelly. Can he be stopped?

One day after being elected to the Kansas Legislature, Aaron Coleman, an admitted abuser who once threatened to shoot a high school student, criticized Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and tweeted that he would “call a hit out” on her.

Fellow Democrats were quick to demand Coleman’s ouster and condemn what they deemed a threat against Kelly.

Yet Wyandotte County voters gave the 20-year-old Democratic candidate a state legislative seat in Tuesday’s election. And it’s hard to see how he will be stopped now.

Coleman has been accused of abusive behavior against girls in school just a few years ago, including bullying, blackmail and revenge porn.

He’s admitted to much of it, though he denies ex-girlfriend Taylor Passow’s account that he slapped and choked her only last December.

In a tweet Wednesday, Coleman wrote that Kelly would face an “extremely bloody” primary in two years, and that “I’m not playing around. People will realize one day when I call a hit out on you it’s real.”

Coleman later suggested in an interview with the Associated Press that perhaps “hit” wasn’t the best word choice, but he also added, “Really, at this point, nobody can really stop me.”

House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer, Democrat of Wichita, characterized Coleman’s tweet as “threatening the governor.”

Still, with his shameful victory in the District 37 House race, it’s likely that Coleman will be seated in the Kansas Legislature come January.

That’s because, even if House Democrats follow through on their stated intent to file a complaint that he isn’t fit for office, it would take a two-thirds vote of the House to block him. And Republicans don’t appear eager to help bail out their Democratic colleagues.

Republicans: He’s the Democrats’ problem

“I haven’t received a request to unseat him, but I think in a democracy we have a responsibility to uphold the integrity of our elections,” House Speaker Ron Ryckman told The Star Editorial Board. “I’d be leery of an attempt to override the vote of the people.”

Retired lawmaker and former Republican Speaker Ray Merrick agreed.

“I think it’s a Democrat problem. It’s not a Republican problem,” Merrick says. “And I don’t know why the Republicans will want to get involved in it. I don’t think the Republicans ought to even weigh in. He’s part of their Democratic caucus. They ought to handle it.”

Democrats no doubt would be happy to do just that, but as the minority party, they simply don’t have the votes to stop Coleman from being seated without an assist from the GOP.

Edward Rosson, Second Congressional District director at the Progressive Turnout Project, said that after Coleman’s primary win in August, activists and elected officials representing both traditional and progressive Democrats beat the bushes for a consensus candidate to wage a write-in campaign against Coleman in Tuesday’s election. It fell to incumbent Rep. Stan Frownfelter, the moderate Democrat Coleman defeated in the Aug. 4 primary. Frownfelter, and Republican write-in candidate Kristina Smith, lost to Coleman on Tuesday.

So there are two courses of action Democrats are taking: seeking to block Coleman’s seating in January, and seeking someone to run against him in 2022.

“The intention is ... to file a complaint that he is not fit for office,” Sawyer wrote in an email to The Star. “The Speaker would then appoint a six-member committee to look into the matter, and then the full House would determine whether to seat him. If two-thirds of the House votes to not seat him, then he would be replaced. If the House votes to seat him, at that point he would be assigned an office and a committee. My belief is that he would probably not be seated.”

It’s unclear whether the perceived threat against the governor might convince resistant Republicans to join the ouster effort. But it should.

If and when Republican lawmakers are presented with evidence of Coleman’s admitted abuse, bullying, revenge porn and now his threatening tweet, will they really argue that he’s fit for office? And if his actions don’t render a verdict of unfit to serve, what, exactly, would?

2022 primary challenge already in planning stages

Democrats are already contemplating running against Coleman in two years — including two who live outside the district and would have to move to run. That includes Rosson, whose name came up but who declined to say what he’d do.

“At this point, it’s a little early to say,” Rosson laughed. “But I will say that, especially if Aaron Coleman is allowed to be seated, that a robust primary challenge needs to be mounted against him in ‘22.”

Brandie Armstrong, Frownfelter’s campaign manager, said she hopes there’s an effort to block him from being seated because “Coleman is still gravely unfit to serve.”

Armstrong didn’t rule out running for the seat in 2022, and Wyandotte County Democratic activist and vocal Coleman critic Faith Rivera, who lives just outside his district, said she would pull up stakes and move there to run against Coleman.

“The community is fed up and eager for change,” she said.

It’s inevitable others will likewise come forward in the next two years to run against Coleman.

But that doesn’t solve the immediate problem facing Democrats — and the entire Legislature, for that matter. Coleman’s admitted behavior is disqualifying, and his tweet calling for a hit on Laura Kelly is disturbing.

Coleman shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the Legislature — or the governor.