TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature is set to convene its annual session Monday with GOP leaders seeking to wrest control of policy from Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly amid their ongoing disputes over how to handle the COVID-19 pandemic.
The session’s 90 days will come amid early and mostly behind-the-scenes political jockeying for the 2022 governor’s race, with Republicans already testing campaign themes for their push to oust Kelly. Republican leaders believe they have a mandate to govern after voters preserved the party’s legislative supermajorities and elected more conservatives in last year’s elections.
“The voters of Kansas, last primary and general, were heard, and the Senate is decidedly more conservative,” said incoming Senate Majority Leader Gene Suellentrop of Wichita, adding that the House also had moved to the right.