Erik Murray: Kansas deserves a senator who will fight for what’s right | Opinion

Roger Marshall has betrayed Kansas. He’s widely known to spend almost all his time in Florida. He has used taxpayers’ dollars to fly there. A national survey placed him among the four least popular U.S. senators in the country. His weakness has translated into an overcrowded Democratic primary, including Republicans who have switched sides to run against him. But do Kansans want more wet blanket representatives who hide behind “fine people on both sides” excuses?

For decades, whenever the Democratic Party has lost elections, its leaders have gathered in conference rooms, dusted off tired consultants and declared that the path to victory runs through moderation. Move to the center. Soften the edges. Find a candidate who won’t alarm anyone for any reason. But the American people are tired of middle-of-the-road politics.

Extremism demands a different response from us: moral courage. We need to stand our ground. Why? The so-called “center” that obsesses D.C. consultants keeps moving. Chasing it has cost Democrats their identity, their base, and election after election. Communities of color especially get tired of loving a party that does not love us back. Yet our love for this country remains undiminished. I have been a Democrat all my life, so I can criticize the party from a place of tough love.

We need to return to our values. The Democratic Party, after it found its moral courage, gave us Social Security, the five-day work week and minimum wage. Those values are what gave us leaders such as Lyndon Johnson, who signed the Voting Rights Act into law — the same legislation Republicans are gutting. They gave us the civil rights movement. They built the foundation for the 21st century.

Democrats keep learning wrong lessons

People do not want a pale imitation of Republican talking points. They do not want mealy-mouthed excuses. They want someone who will fight for working people. They want quality health care at a reasonable price. They want protection from retaliation by their employers. They want corrupt politicians held to account. They want honest pay for honest work.

Those values are not extreme. They are not partisan. They are not left or right or center. They are American. This is what the Democratic Party was, and what the Democratic Party could be again, once we trade distractions for solutions, and bickering for leadership.

Running another cautious, centrist candidate who tiptoes around every controversy guarantees another loss. That’s the reality. We’ve seen it time and again. Nothing will change if a milquetoast candidate somehow manages to win, either. We’ve seen that, too. But there is another way.

I have faith in the people of Kansas. I have toured the state. I have met people from every county, and I trust them. This August, they will decide the best candidate to face Roger Marshall. Kansans do the right thing when doing the right thing is difficult. That’s our heritage.

Free State rejects extremism

Kansans are wise, brave, empathetic and surprising. Our history proves it. We are the state that stood against pro-slavery militants. We are the state that stood against the Ku Klux Klan. We are the state that welcomed Black cowboys and homesteaders after the Civil War.

But you don’t have to look to the distant past to see our spirit. Look no further than the people’s landslide rejection of an extremist abortion ban put forward by Republicans in 2022.

Kansans can see the future. We saw a world without slavery. We saw a society without bigotry. Our legacy is knowing what comes next and manifesting it.

Now, I’m asking you to imagine a Free State where small businesses thrive. Where people lift one another up. Where working parents can afford a two-bedroom apartment on a single salary. Where people can afford a single family home, and grow their family’s wealth in whatever way they choose, to give their children a better world than they themselves were born into. Where health care is a human right. Where public education is a value, farmers don’t have to worry about going bankrupt and rural hospitals don’t have to worry about closing their doors. Where we work together. Where representatives are public servants instead of politicians. Where they listen to the communities that need their protection instead of fleeing into the night like frightened animals. Where we work together to solve our problems and manage our priorities.

We can and will uplift those who need our help. We will also encourage those who don’t need help to continue to soar. It’s not about tearing each other down. It’s about standing firm for our priorities, and turning away from people who seek to divide us with false choices.

Erik Murray launched his bid for U.S. Senate in Kansas in December 2025. Learn more at erikforkansas.com