Will President Trump endorse in the Kansas Senate primary? Republicans should hope so
If any Republican voters are on the fence about Kansas’ crowded U.S. Senate race, they need to know this:
There are largely two voting blocs backing Kris Kobach in the GOP primary Aug. 4. One is patriotic, often rural conservatives who love Kobach’s fiery stance on illegal immigration, notwithstanding his near-zero success rate on the issue.
The other is Democrats.
Ahem, Mr. President. Is the White House watching all this?
It’s no secret that Kansas Democrats want Kobach to win the nomination. Of the GOP candidates who have a shot at the nomination, Kobach looks to be the most beatable in November, having not only lost the 2018 gubernatorial race to Democrat Laura Kelly but also having lost repeatedly in court on immigration, not to mention in the court of public opinion.
But now, the Democrats’ dream candidate is an open secret — with national headlines about a Democratic-linked super PAC called Sunflower State that has been airing an ad that appears to attack Kobach but really goes after his top rival in the race, U.S. Rep. Roger Marshall.
In a bit of brilliant political jiu-jitsu, the ad complains about Kobach being “too conservative,” too tough on China and too dedicated to a border wall. It’s not disingenuous, but it is: There’s no doubt Democrats feel that way about Kobach, but the ad creators know full well that Republican voters think those are positive attributes in a candidate. The ad stiff-arms Kobach only in the hope that GOP voters will hug him all the closer.
Democrats hope Kobach wins primary
Meanwhile, the ad savages a “fake, fake, fake” Marshall for being weak on immigration, “soft” on President Donald Trump, whatever that’s supposed to mean, and easy on China.
The ad’s message is clear, even if its motives are not: Vote for Kobach.
To any Republicans considering doing so, just know it’s exactly what Democrats want you to do. They’re spending big bucks to trick you into it, because they think they can beat Kobach in November and claim a Senate seat they haven’t held in nearly a century.
It’s doubtful the pro-Kobach ploy will make much of a difference in Johnson County, which was single-handedly responsible for electing Democrat Kelly in 2018. Kobach, a former Kansas secretary of state, was a singular failure in Johnson County that year: While other statewide Republican candidates lost the county by 1,000 votes, or two or three, Kobach lost it by a staggering 46,000 votes. In other words, Johnson Countians were open to voting for Republicans, just not Kobach.
But on Aug. 4, voters who don’t look past Kobach’s flag-waving to see his liabilities may be persuaded that Kobach’s their man. Democrats hope so, anyway.
What if Democrats get their way and win that seat? Could that alter control of the Senate — and put a generational lid on Republicans’ ability to put robes on conservative judges and justices?
If Democrats are quasi-clandestinely trying to feed Kobach the nomination, Republicans seem to be doing it openly, even against their own better judgment.
Trump should weigh in on Kansas Senate seat
Besides the circular firing squad that Kansas Republicans routinely trot out — there are 11 Republican candidates for the Senate alone — two candidates in particular are in danger of gifting the nomination to Kobach. State party chairman Mike Kuckelman says Dave Lindstrom and Bob Hamilton don’t have near enough support to win but enough to hand the thing to Kobach by taking potential supporters from Marshall. (Kobach would have a hard time shaking his core supporters loose if he wanted to.)
All this is to say, this should be Republicans’ seat to lose — and they seem intent on doing just that. And Democrats are all too pleased to lend a hand behind the scenes.
To answer my earlier question: The White House is no doubt watching this race, and there are rumblings that the president may weigh in, mostly likely to endorse Marshall. Both Kobach and Marshall nestled up to Trump in early ads, as if he’d already endorsed both. Yet, despite a brief bromance between Kobach and the president, Trump wants that Senate, he needs that possibly pivotal seat, and he is said to realize what an albatross Kobach is politically.
And wouldn’t Democrats crow from sea to sea for years if they took the beet-red seat out from under this president? It would be seen as evidence of a tectonic shift in power and a personal rebuke of the president.
In truth, it would be a colossal failure of the Kansas Republican Party.
A presidential endorsement may be the only thing that can prevent it.
