Wichita Eagle endorsement: U.S. Senate Republican primary
It might seem like there’s a two-man race for the Republican nomination for Kansas’ U.S. Senate seat — U.S. Rep. Roger Marshall, who represents the state’s most heavily Republican congressional district, and former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the party’s 2018 nominee for governor.
But there’s more to the picture than record spending and those interminable Super-PAC attack ads. Another candidate stands out from the largely problematic field and gets The Eagle’s endorsement for the Aug. 4 Republican primary:
David Lindstrom, a former defensive end for the Kansas City Chiefs, didn’t end his campaign when Kansas GOP leaders asked him to drop out for “the good of the Party,” and that kind of dogged persistence would serve him and his constituents well as a U.S. senator.
A former Johnson County Commissioner with experience in both the public and private sectors, Lindstrom is thoughtful, earnest and a stalwart fiscal conservative. He says balancing the budget and reducing America’s $26 trillion national debt should be top priorities, along with meaningful tax policies and immigration reform.
As a senator, he said, “I can ask my colleagues . . . in Congress to hold themselves accountable as it relates to deficit spending and perform as I did owning my own business — pay for performance,” Lindstrom said.
“If we can’t get a balanced budget amendment, perhaps we can ask our elected officials in Washington to be docked in pay if there is deficit spending.”
During an interview via Zoom that included several candidates and the editorial boards of The Eagle and The Kansas City Star, Lindstrom displayed a reasoned approach to a wide range of topics, including COVID-19, health care, immigration, agriculture and recent clashes between protesters and federal agents.
Kobach and Bob Hamilton declined invitations to participate in the endorsement process. Marshall said he agreed to participate “out of respect for the process,” but that he would decline an endorsement from either newspaper.
Lindstrom, 65, grew up in Massachusetts and played football for Boston University before being drafted by the San Diego Chargers. He moved to Kansas City in 1978 and played eight seasons with the Chiefs. When he retired, he chose to stay in Johnson County.
“We stayed here for a very emphatic reason and that was the quality of life, the cost of life and the overall atmosphere in the state of Kansas,” Lindstrom told McClatchy reporter Bryan Lowry.
Lindstrom worked in real estate and owned a Burger King franchise before diving into politics. Republican Tim Shallenburger asked him to be his running mate in the 2002 gubernatorial race against Democrat Kathleen Sebelius.
Shallenburger lost that race, but Lindstrom ran for Johnson County Commission the following year and won, and he served for a decade.
He says he’s seeking Sen. Pat Roberts’ seat to protect conservative values — he’s pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, smaller-government, less-regulation — and to stem a “creep of . . . socialism” that he sees in efforts to defund police or open U.S. borders.
“I think this country really needs to put together a comprehensive plan as it relates to immigration,” Lindstrom said.
While Lindstrom’s stances on most issues are decidedly pro-business, he said he supports “creating a safe environment for (workers) and making sure they get a good wage for fair work.”
When pressed about whether businesses should be exempt from lawsuits if they unnecessarily expose workers to COVID-19, Lindstrom broke from many of his Republican peers and said, “I don’t think so, no.”
He said Republicans must get serious about an alternative to the Affordable Care Act, and that it should be accessible, affordable, transparent and market-driven. He also supports continuing federal farm subsidies because he views the food supply as a national security issue.
Other candidates in the Republican field — including first-timer John Miller, a commercial truck sales manager from Overland Park, and Brian Matlock, a self-described “Republican socialist” — conveyed passionate responses and independent thinking and hinted that they wouldn’t be automatic pro-Trump votes in Congress.
Marshall, meanwhile, has shown himself to be a Trump loyalist all the way to the pharmacy aisle — recently revealing that he was taking the drug hydroxychloroquine, which Trump touted despite U.S. Food and Drug Administration warnings. We’re also troubled by a recent report showing that he may have used business connections to avoid a jail sentence for reckless driving.
Another candidate, Lance Berland, said COVID-19 is a hoax and a conspiracy perpetrated by the “global health mafia.”
And Kobach — oh, Kobach. He turned the Kansas Secretary of State’s office into his personal political pulpit, supporting baseless claims of widespread voter fraud and illegal immigration.
When Kobach personally defended his beloved voter citizenship law, a federal judge not only struck it down but found him in contempt and ordered him to take more law classes. The U.S. Senate is troubling enough without him in it.
So there’s plenty of variety in this Republican primary field. We believe Lindstrom has the experience, temperament and rational thinking necessary for the job and is the best choice.
This story was originally published July 31, 2020 at 5:04 AM.