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Democrats Flip 3 More Kansas Legislative Seats
Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 9:52 am
by silverscreenselect
And they did it the easy way, as two Republican state senators and a representative have switched to the Democratic party in the last week. A fourth is reportedly considering a switch. Democrats picked up one Congressional seat in Kansas this election and came close in a second. Despite this, Republicans still hold majorities in both houses of the Kansas legislature. Said one of the switchers, Senator Barbara Bollier:
“Morally, the party is not going where my compass resides. I’m looking forward to being in a party that represents the ideals that I do, including Medicaid expansion and funding our K-12 schools.”
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show ... ecome-dems
Re: Democrats Flip 3 More Kansas Legislative Seats
Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 10:58 am
by Pastor Fireball
I guarantee they won't be the last local Republican legislators to abandon the sinking ship before 2020.
Re: Democrats Flip 3 More Kansas Legislative Seats
Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 11:49 am
by Bob78164
What I find fascinating about this is that they left the majority party to join the minority party. I remember seeing flips in the other direction, but I don't ever remember seeing flips in that direction. Except possibly for Phil Graham when he resigned his House seat in Texas so he could run again as a Republican. I'll have to check the timing on that one. --Bob
Re: Democrats Flip 3 More Kansas Legislative Seats
Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 12:53 pm
by silverscreenselect
Bob78164 wrote:What I find fascinating about this is that they left the majority party to join the minority party. I remember seeing flips in the other direction, but I don't ever remember seeing flips in that direction. Except possibly for Phil Graham when he resigned his House seat in Texas so he could run again as a Republican. I'll have to check the timing on that one. --Bob
I don't think that Phil Graham ever resigned a House seat. However, Phil Gramm did resign the House seat to which he had just been re-elected at the beginning of 1983, when Democrats did indeed control the House. He then ran as a Republican in the Special Election and won.
Re: Democrats Flip 3 More Kansas Legislative Seats
Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2019 10:40 am
by Bob78164
Senator Sykes
explains here why she switched parties.
Senator Dinah Sykes wrote:To many in the Republican Party, “bipartisan” had become a dirty word.
I witnessed party bosses reinforce this message numerous times by punishing caucus members who disagreed with their leadership. I was even threatened early in my first session for advocating an end to Brownback’s failed tax experiment, a key issue in my campaign and one that the people of my district supported. When a fixed ideological position was put ahead of the people I serve and their wishes, I knew that was unacceptable.
That's what I'm seeing as well. Republicans who disagree with the party line get hounded, not by fact-based arguments, but because they are being supposedly disloyal. I don't see that on the Democratic side of the aisle. We're much too broad a coalition to be able to tolerate that. --Bob
Re: Democrats Flip 3 More Kansas Legislative Seats
Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 10:19 am
by silverscreenselect
Let's add New Jersey and California to the list of Republican state legislators jumping ship:
New Jersey State Senator Dawn Marie Addiego wrote: “My core values that originally drew me to the Republican Party have not changed, but the party which once echoed the vision of Ronald Reagan no longer exists. Oil drilling off our coast and tax policy which unfairly penalizes New Jersey families are just a few examples of a National Republican Party that has lost its way.”
Addiego had been the deputy minority whip in the State Senate.
And shame on Bob ###'s for not mentioning California State Assemblyman and former Republican Brian Maienschein who said, "[Trump's] conduct has been very offensive really since the beginning … his conduct was reprehensible, immature, counterproductive to what I believed was best for the country.”
https://thinkprogress.org/new-jersey-st ... bc3a09122/
Re: Democrats Flip 3 More Kansas Legislative Seats
Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 10:30 am
by Bob78164
silverscreenselect wrote:Let's add New Jersey and California to the list of Republican state legislators jumping ship:
New Jersey State Senator Dawn Marie Addiego wrote: “My core values that originally drew me to the Republican Party have not changed, but the party which once echoed the vision of Ronald Reagan no longer exists. Oil drilling off our coast and tax policy which unfairly penalizes New Jersey families are just a few examples of a National Republican Party that has lost its way.”
Addiego had been the deputy minority whip in the State Senate.
And shame on Bob ###'s for not mentioning California State Assemblyman and former Republican Brian Maienschein who said, "[Trump's] conduct has been very offensive really since the beginning … his conduct was reprehensible, immature, counterproductive to what I believed was best for the country.”
https://thinkprogress.org/new-jersey-st ... bc3a09122/
I think it's a much bigger deal when a legislator flips from the chamber's majority party to its minority party than the other way around. --Bob