Embattled teen candidate for Kansas House reverses decision, says he’ll stay in race

A Kansas House candidate dogged by past inappropriate behavior who promised to drop out has abandoned his pledge and now says he will campaign against “corporatist politics” and stay on the November ballot.

Aaron Coleman, a 19-year-old dishwasher and community college student, capped a head-spinning month on Tuesday that began when he ousted incumbent Rep. Stan Frownfelter in the Democratic primary and continued when he announced Sunday he would leave the race.

In a lengthy statement Tuesday, Coleman, who has acknowledged and apologized for past behavior, including the use of revenge porn as a middle school student, said he had heard from “many people” urging him to remain in the race. “They told me that all of us have sinned, and we all make mistakes,” he said.

“My withdrawal would immediately return to power the same corporatist, out-of-touch 7-term incumbent that voters just rejected. They did not only vote for me but they voted for my platform and for change for our community,” Coleman said. “We cannot undo democracy because I am a flawed individual who has made mistakes. That is not fair to those voters. They deserve to have a choice this November.”

Frownfelter has previously pledged to mount a write-in campaign and has said voters didn’t have a full picture of Coleman at the time of the election. Coleman defeated Frownfelter by 14 votes. No Republican will appear on the November ballot.

Reached by phone on Tuesday, Frownfelter lashed out at Coleman’s characterizations of him as an elitist and a corporatist.

“I just can’t believe that he continues to tell lies about what I’ve accomplished,” Frownfelter said. “I don’t understand why he’s slamming another Democrat. And I’ve never said a word about him.”

Coleman’s chances of getting removed from the November ballot were always uncertain. Kansas law allows only very narrow circumstances for a candidate to get their name removed. One of them is medical hardship in the candidate’s immediate family, and he had said his father was hospitalized.

Democratic leaders have already disavowed Coleman’s candidacy. Heather Scanlon, chief of staff to House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer, said Sunday that Democrats were “glad to see him working toward more responsible decisions” after Coleman said he would drop out.

This story was originally published August 25, 2020 at 12:03 PM.