Strumming a guitar instead of flinging mud, Dennis Moore changed Kansas voters’ minds

Dennis Moore played a guitar and won a race for Congress.

It was 1998. The Kansas 3rd District had elected a Republican for many years — Larry Winn, Jan Meyers, Vince Snowbarger. Moore, a Democrat, decided to take on Snowbarger, who had served just one term.

It was a pretty nasty race, as all of them are. Snowbarger and Moore battled throughout the fall, on TV: Social Security, guns, education, it was all on the table.

But Moore wanted to air an ad with his guitar. His team protested, but they taped one. It ran in the final week and it broke through. People were tired of the mud. They wanted something else.

“The ad was his character. And his character was the ad,” campaign consultant Martin Hamburger remembered Tuesday, after Moore’s death became public.

Moore always insisted he was a moderate Democrat. The truth was complicated: He was a reliable Democratic vote in the House. He was smart about his party’s opportunities, and problems, in Kansas.

He focused on his district, and avoided too much talk about cultural issues. It drove Republicans crazy. He beat Kris Kobach, Phill Kline and a handful of lesser candidates, and then retired.

But let’s remember Moore’s service in this hyperpartisan, hyperbolic era. Sometimes you don’t need to raise your fist. Sometimes it’s better to pick up your guitar.

This story was originally published November 2, 2021 at 2:22 PM.