Ty Masterson is the MAGA candidate to beat. Is that what the voters want? | Opinion
Kansas politics aren’t about Kansas anymore.
They’re about Donald Trump.
Consider some of the bigger stories to come out of Topeka in the last few weeks: The failure (for now) of the Kansas GOP’s redistricting push. The legal battle over SNAP benefits between Gov. Laura Kelly and Attorney General Kris Kobach. And now there is an effort by a crew of former Trump campaign advisers to back and staff Ty Masterson’s gubernatorial campaign.
Trump. Trump. And Trump, obviously.
Some of this makes sense. The federal government is huge and touches our lives in a thousand different ways. When the president makes a decision — like deciding to withhold SNAP benefits during the recent government shutdown — it ripples through lives, institutions and communities from Kansas City to Wichita all the way west to Syracuse, Kan., population 1,826.
Sunflower State officials couldn’t ignore Trump in those cases, even if they wanted. They have to act.
But some of this is purely about Donald Trump’s power and vanity. His redistricting push? It’s partly about making sure he can rule unobstructed during the second half of his term. But it’s likely also about avoiding another impeachment effort by congressional Democrats. And Kansas Republicans are going along.
That has nothing to do with improving the lives of Kansans. But isn’t that what Kansas politics ought to be about?
‘Hands-on firepower’ from Trump
In Masterson’s case, Trump’s intervention appears to be an effort by his circle to remake Kansas politics in the president’s image.
The Washington Examiner reported last week that “several top operatives from Trump’s 2024 political orbit” have created “outside groups” with names like Take Back Kansas Action to support Masterson’s campaign. The GOP candidate has also “overhauled his campaign team with a lineup of Trump-aligned advisers” that includes consultant Ryan Smith, the former business partner of James Blair, Trump’s current deputy chief of staff.
“It’s hands-on firepower from the president’s network, deploying their political ops, data smarts, and ad expertise right here in Kansas to build the strongest machine possible,” Masterson said in an email to supporters.
That’s not technically an endorsement by Trump. Masterson is treating it is such, though. On Monday, he called on the rest of the GOP field — nine candidates total — to give up and go home.
“Now it’s time for Kansas Republicans to unite behind the conservative fighter that the Trump movement is rallying around,” Masterson said in a statement posted to X.
Forget about the primary election. Forget about debates. The president and his coterie want to pick our governor for us before Kansans have had a say.
Property taxes, Ogallala Aquifer, schools
Which is annoying, because let’s be honest: There’s not a shred of evidence that Trump cares about Kansas at all. He’s got a big country to run, after all.
But there’s no reason to think he has given thought to homeowners struggling with property taxes in Sedgwick and Johnson counties. Or that he’s mulled the precarious future of the rapidly depleting Ogallala Aquifer in Western Kansas. Or that he has a position on our state’s unending battles over education funding and the fight to keep small-town schools open for the next generation of Kansans.
The good news is that Trump doesn’t always get what he wants.
Kansas Republicans’ failure to force a special session to steal Sharice Davids’ congressional seat was big news nationally, with headlines in The New York Times, NPR and Politico. And the Kansas news was followed by the announcement that Indiana — another red state — will also sit out Trump’s redistricting efforts.
There’s an old saying: All politics is local. That’s not true now, and maybe never was. But there ought to be a little space in state and local politics for local issues. It can’t all be about Trump. We shouldn’t have to fight about him all the time.