Perhaps one of my past favorite political books, “What’s the matter with Kansas” will need to be updated.
Does anyone know the party breakdown of both State chambers? Does a few votes switching make a difference?
We’re not in Kansas anymore?
Good.
Exactly my question! 2 articles on this topic, neither one gives the party breakdown in the 2 Kansas houses. DOH!
“We’re Not Done.” - Jim Ward, D-KS
Neither are progressive voters nationwide, Mr. Ward.
Please pay attention, DNC.
It is no small thing that these three new Democrats are women. My usual mantra-the media, largely male and largely sexist male, ignore the women issue over and over.
Yes, more women were elected because more women are angry and concerned for their rights and the protection and education of their families. But we also marched and have been fighting for basic rights -abortion, equal pay, insurance for both contraceptives and abortion, protection from male abusers, a voice and justice against rapists, safe schools, safe homes and neighborhoods, money and higher salaries for our schools and educators…
Keep ignoring us at your will, we are not going away and we are not stopping. What the media and social media corporations did to Hillary Clinton will never happen again without noice and disruption.
It is the women and real family issues. It is not a meaningless label, “progressive”. We have real issues that need to be on the table. Play your label game at your own demise.
Why, did you even read that book? These people didn’t suddenly become liberals who will ‘take the populist language of the right’ and refocus that on promoting liberal policies like the left used to, as that book centers around. They are just centrist who are looking to distance themselves from the toxicity of the G.O.P.
Good… Sure. But I bet they’ll still vote for trickle down given the chance.
Oh, the humanity!!!
In terms of voting results in the current session of the legislature, probably not. Kansas senate is 24 ®, 1 (I), and 11 (D). The house is 84 ® to 41 (D).
As falls Wichita so falls Wichita Falls? (Apologies to Pat Metheny) Could it be the draconian policies foisted on the Red part of this country by the likes of the Koch brothers are fueling this? Yes, I say. Dems need to think big, big policies and big tent. (There is no better jobs policy than an all-out effort to stop global warming.)
Oh, and investigate the shit out of the Dumpie in the People’s House. Time for him to go. The Russians are cashing in before it is too late for them; it may be for us as well.
Ballotpedia says the Republicans had super-majorities in both Senate (27 Republicans in 40 seats) and the House (84 Republicans in 125 seats). Since two of the three who have already switched were state senators, it looks like that breaks the super-majority in the Senate. (Granted, perhaps these women would not have voted the Republican party line anyway, but it makes a difference with a Democratic governor.)
Oddly, other articles on the subject also neglect this key fact.
Democrats will now hold 41 seats in the Kansas House (of 125, or 23%) and 11 in the Senate (of 40, or 28%) when the legislative session begins in January. While an interesting turn of events, it will change nothing in 2019.
EDIT: as @hippocritic and @alabamaken have pointed out, there are advantages to this small shift.
It’s a start, don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
I’m surprised we’re not seeing more journalistic cud-chewing about what suburban white women joining the Democratic Party en masse will mean for the Democratic Party’s priorities.It’s obviously pretty good from a national and statewide electoral perspective, even if it doesn’t reverse Republican control in the South and Appalachia and the Interior West right away (might be a decade or two like this before we see total collapse, ala the Southern Dems in the '80s and '90s).
But does it mean that the AOC/Warren wing of the Dems gets its wings clipped? Or do their priorities (access to healthcare, clean government) actually align pretty neatly with those of the soccer moms?
Absolutely. They started switching parties in Texas two years ago. Judges started it and then in the midterms we turned all the appellate courts blue.
Anytime someone switches to our side it’s a good thing.
You’d think the reasonable thing for those relatively moderate, practical (i.e. real-world) Republicans to do would be to join together in a new political party, then caucus with the Democrats against the toxic mess of the GOP, at least until they start making sense again.
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- (U may want to check out Anna Greenberg in the “American Prospect.”)
Thank you. I’m a curious person and so I was groaning that I was going to have to look it up. This is surprisingly incomplete information for an article in policy-wonk TPM. It’s weird to tell readers about these flips, but not inform us of the tally. The fact that it is a drop in the bucket in terms of the gap between parties makes it all the more exceptional to see politicians crossing over into the minority party.