Dear readers, here are some of my picks on the Nov. 8 ballot and why.
United States Senator
Sen. Jerry Moran earns our support because he upheld the U.S. Constitution as one of the first Republican members of Congress to admit Joe Biden was legitimately elected president, albeit three weeks after the Nov. 3 election. Moran also voted to certify Biden as president in the wee hours after the horrific Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Moran also works across the aisle, by evidence of his Sept. 30 vote to extend the federal government’s Sept. 30 fiscal year deadline to Dec. 16, continuing to fund not only vital services but also provide additional assistance to Ukraine.
Moran’s most disappointing vote was against Ketanji Brown Jackson as the next justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Nevertheless, Moran’s 26-year Congressional tenure has earned him significant leadership roles including appropriations, defense and veterans’ affairs, to the advantage of us Kansans.
U.S. Rep. 2nd District
Jake LaTurner’s first days as a U.S. Congressman were spent trying to stop the certification of Electoral College votes confirming Joe Biden as president.
Patrick Schmidt is the more centrist candidate.
It’s been downhill from there. LaTurner has aligned himself with the far right group-think. Some of his more disappointing votes have been against the reauthorization of the Community Development Block Grant program, a primary funding mechanism for small communities to repair their aging streets and municipal water and sewer systems and most recently his vote against giving Ukraine additional aid and keeping the U.S. government’s vital governmental services funded through the end of the year.
Schmidt, his opponent, said it was the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol that stirred his conscience to run for office.
“The only thing Congressional Republicans and the previous administration’s enablers learned that day is that they didn’t go far enough,” Schmidt said at a meet-and-greet in Iola.
Schmidt served in the U.S. Navy as an intelligence officer.
Governor/Lt. Governor
Why mess with success? The Laura Kelly-David Toland ticket is the dream team for working Kansans. Over the past four years, the Kelly administration has secured more than $14 billion in new business investment in Kansas and created over 52,000 new jobs. Employees have never been so valued.
Also under the Kelly administration, the Kansas budget has not only balanced, but for the first time in 20 years the rainy day balance is a robust $969 million.
Kelly has seen that public schools are adequately funded. And she has held steadfast in her commitment to eliminate the state food sales tax.
Best of all, she’s a “middle of the road” governor who celebrates others, by evidence of her commitment — still denied by Republican legislators — to expand the Medicaid health insurance program that would provide an additional 150,000 Kansans with coverage.
