Seeing Barbara Bollier as our US Senate Candidate in Kansas is an unbelievable reminder for me. In November of 2015, after the 2014 election, I wrote an article about how the Republican party took special effort to shun Doctor Bollier for her efforts to stop Governor Brownback by endorsing Paul Davis. She was stripped of her state house committees, and in the Republican caucus, the messaging to non-crazed Republicans was: “go away”. This message has dominated Kansas politics for some time. While there was a Republican tilt to Kansas, Democratic governors and representatives have also come from this state. It has been many generations since a US Senator has come from Kansas. Is this the year that is possible? Let me tell you why I’m proud of every effort to make the way for Dr. Bollier to provide us representation in the US Senate.
Kos himself covers the raw numbers of the Civiqs polling data very well, and for that information, you can look at his article. What happened? Where are we seeing shifts in Kansas? Not only did we win a seat for Congress in 2018, but Kansas Democratic party members filled seats in local and county elections, and ran for office at all levels more frequently than ever before.
The part I am most proud of, however, is that when we saw something, we did something. The party didn’t fundraise around issues, it actively worked to try to address them. When Republicans tried to disenfranchise black and brown voters, it became an effort to call out the sin and to work to fix it. It took all efforts, including those of the Daily Kos community, to address the harms done to second and third-generation immigrants, and hard-working Kansans who were being scared away from the polls.
I believed in then as I do now that there are Democratic voters in every single district in America. That even if you lose a district, there is a benefit to losing it by 60-40 than 80-20, and offering voters in those districts hope and a reason to turn out can be the difference.
There is a certain appeal to saying: play toward a strategy that only benefits strongly Democratic communities. There is no doubt, we have to turn those votes out in volume. That still cannot mean that we ignore the fact that persons of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, women seeking care, and so many more live in areas that are deep red but want a chance to be heard.
So how do you do it? President Obama summed up so clearly where we are right now.
I recognize that these past few months have been hard and dispiriting — that the fear, sorrow, uncertainty, and hardship of a pandemic have been compounded by tragic reminders that prejudice and inequality still shape so much of American life. But watching the heightened activism of young people in recent weeks, of every race and every station, makes me hopeful.
President Obama talks about handling our city and local elections. He also addresses the fact that young activism matters right now. It matters for us to take our messaging and beliefs home with us.
Kansas is a winnable race. Why is it a winnable race? Not just because Kobach and Marshall are terrible candidates — and the Republicans knew it — but because we are working on the long journey of building elected at every level to make being a Democratic elected less scary. To push away the Republican attempts to demonize and name-call, and to neutralize the money spent by Americans for Prosperity (Kochs) and other major Republican donors.
We have until November to elect Senator Bollier. And we all have the rest of our lives to work on helping make sure that we never forget the lessons we learn from this failed presidency, from many failed states, and that we work hard to make sure we all have an opportunity to achieve.