The latest defections from the Kansas Republican Party two Johnson County legislators show politicians in some corners of the state trying to catch up with changes in the voters they need to win over.
In quick succession Wednesday morning, Republican moderates state Sen. Dinah Sykes and state Rep. Stephanie Clayton announced they are changing parties.
They followed the path of moderate Republican state Sen. Barbara Bollier, who declared herself a Democrat earlier this month.
Rep. Joy Koesten of Leawood also recently left the GOP. She lost her bid for a second term to conservative Kellie Warren in the Republican primary.
Those formerly moderate Republicans now calling themselves centrist Democrats say it wasnt so much that they left the GOP, but more like conservatives yanked their party from them.
The switches come in the wake of a decisive loss of the Republican nominee for governor. Secretary of State Kris Kobach a fierce conservative who vowed to model the office after Donald Trumps presidency represents a wing of the party that increasingly felt like a poor fit for moderates.
Moderate Republicans have very much been struggling to gain any influence in their own party, said Patrick Miller, a University of Kansas political scientist. This saves them from that internal squabble and could actually give them more influence.
The move might be easier with the election of Gov.-elect Laura Kelly. Shes sold herself to the public as a centrist and was seen as a Democrat willing to compromise during her 14 years in the Kansas Senate.
Clayton, for instance, said she hoped the hard right turn of the GOP was going to be a blip and would blow over.
(But) Ive been in this a long time and things are not blowing over, she said. Things have not changed. They appear to be getting worse.
Both Clayton and Sykes represent politically moderate districts. Sykes said, I can choose to try and change the Republican Party, or I can choose to represent my district.
Sykes said she made the jump because of how deep the right wing has gotten into the Republican Party.
There were tipping points for both lawmakers in the past week, the two lawmakers said. For Sykes, it was Republicans picking conservative Eric Rucker to replace state Sen. Vicki Schmidt after she was elected state insurance commissioner. Rucker is assistant secretary of state appointed by Kobach. He also worked for conservative Phill Kline when Kline was Kansas attorney general.
CLAYTON says she decided to quit the GOP when House leadership suggested it might rework a school funding bill passed last year.
This is just counter-intuitive to what I think is best for my district, Clayton said.
She also said party leadership appears to, once again, be spoiling for a fight with the state supreme court over school funding.
