Dueling pro-life endorsements in Kobach, Marshall Senate race expose rift in movement
After his first live appearance of the coronavirus-crimped Kansas U.S. Senate campaign, candidate Kris Kobach has announced an endorsement by a Wichita-based anti-abortion group, exposing a rift in the pro-life movement between supporters of Kobach and opponent Roger Marshall.
All the candidates in the Republican primary oppose abortion, as did state Sen. Susan Wagle, who dropped her bid to try to win the federal seat.
Marshall, the congressman from western Kansas, and Kobach, former Kansas secretary of state, have split endorsements from some pro-life groups that are usually on the same page when it comes to picking candidates.
Marshall has been endorsed by the political action committee of Kansans for Life, the leading lobbying arm of the movement in state politics.
On Friday, Kobach announced his endorsement from Kansas Coalition for Life, a smaller but energetic group that organizes daily protests outside Wichita’s only abortion-providing clinic and regularly displays the “Truth Truck,” a moving van covered with graphic photos of aborted fetuses.
“This is a pro-life endorsement based on my credentials fighting for the right to life,” Kobach said. “I’m very honored to have the endorsement of Kansas Coalition for Life, which as many of you know is pro-life activist group that is leading the charge when it comes to action on the site of abortion providers.”
Kobach earlier landed the endorsement of Operation Rescue, a group known mostly for anti-abortion activism and clinic blockades.
Mark Gietzen, the longtime leader of the Kansas Coalition for Life, said he’s splitting with Kansans for Life in the primary because he thinks KFL rushed through the Marshall endorsement using questionable practices.
“It was very improper for Kansans for Life to endorse, in secret,” he said. “No. 1, we always get together with the pro-life groups talking and endorsing the same person. No. 2, we never endorse before the (June 1) filing deadline.
“KFL violated both of those (practices) and did so in the worst possible way. The first thing they did was get an attorney forcing all the people on the endorsement committee to keep it a secret as to who they voted for and why, which was the opposite of having transparency.”
Melissa Leach, the manager of the Kansans for Life PAC, did not return a phone message seeking comment.
Eric Pahls, spokesman for the Marshall campaign, said he thinks there’s not much of a split at all.
“As far as we’re concerned, the pro-life community is pretty unified,” Pahls said. “The largest and oldest group in the country, the National Right to Life, has endorsed Dr. Marshall and the largest and by far most powerful pro-life organization in Kansas, Kansans for Life, has also endorsed Dr. Marshall.
“Both of them, in their statements, talked not only about Dr. Marshall’s record, but his lifetime of work protecting the unborn.”
Marshall is an obstetrician and gynecologist.
Kobach endorsement news conference followed his first live public appearance of the campaign, a speech to the Wichita Pachyderm Club at the Hartman Arena in Park City.
The Pachyderms ordinarily meet in a crowded dining room at the Petroleum Club in downtown Wichita.
But Wink Hartman — Kobach’s running mate in his unsuccessful 2018 race for Kansas governor — offered use of his spacious sports and concert arena where the Pachyderm members were able to spread out in deference to the coronavirus pandemic.
Kobach’s speech and the club members’ questions mostly focused on Kobach’s favorite themes of immigration control and voter fraud.
But the COVID-19 pandemic has given Kobach fresh takes on both issues.
“In times of pandemic, borders matter,” Kobach said. “The first thing you have to do when there’s a global pandemic is you have to try to secure your borders and determine who is allowed to come into the county and who is not allowed into the country.”
The coronavirus first surfaced in China.
Kobach told the Pachyderms that last year, 12,000 Chinese nationals entered the country illegally over the southern border after flying into Mexico. He said friends with the Border Patrol have told him about 1,000 Chinese nationals have entered since the pandemic began.
He also said 42 million Americans are out of work in the coronavirus-related economic slowdown.
“It’s time for a moratorium, it’s time for a hold, it’s time for a pause on legal immigration too,” he said. “If we’re bringing in people to work, we probably shouldn’t be doing that when 42 million Americans need to get back to work.”
He said Marshall and 37 other Congress members last week signed a letter asking President Trump not to reduce immigration of low-skill temporary workers from the current level of 66,000 a year.
Marshall spokesman Pahls said all the signatories on the letter were Republicans and “any attempt to suggest H-2B visa recipients would fill the jobs of Kansans who want them is disingenuous at best.”
Kobach also railed against efforts by congressional Democrats to convert elections to vote-by-mail due to concerns over coronavirus.
Kobach called that “an invitation to fraud.”
He said an all-mail election would result in states sending out about 24 million excess ballots to non-citizens, dead people, voters who have moved but not been purged from the rolls and women who are double-registered under their married and maiden names.
This story was originally published June 7, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
