Endorsement: Kansas 1st District can vote for American democracy, or something else | Opinion

Tracey Mann, the incumbent Republican representing Kansas’ 1st Congressional District, lost our endorsement on Jan. 6, 2021.

That’s the day Mann voted to continue to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election, mere hours after he and his colleagues were run out of their own chambers in the Capitol, under threat from an insurgent mob seeking to overturn the will of America’s voters and keep Donald Trump in the White House.

Mann was a willing participant in the insurrectionist cause, voting to override results from Pennsylvania and Arizona based on bogus “evidence” of election fraud that had been debunked at every turn by election boards and courts.

The fact that Mann was willing to try to subvert an election and American democracy so his favored candidate could “win” is, in our view, a disqualifying event.

We called and sent email, asking if he’d changed his mind about this (politicians do sometimes evolve), but what we got back was nothing. So we can only assume he’ll try the same play if given another chance this coming January.

The fact that he’s the odds-on favorite to win renomination in the Aug. 6 Republican primary is disturbing.

It’s a sad commentary on what has become of the sprawling district.

Historically, the “Big First” has been an incubator for conservative and principled Kansas statesmen, including U.S. Sens. Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran, and of course, Kansas political icon Bob Dole.

But the last two go-rounds in the gigantic district brought us Mann, and before him, Sen. Roger Marshall. Marshall also sided with the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol, voting to overturn the election after seeing the Senate chamber taken over by a motley mob led by a self-styled “QAnon Shaman” in a fur headdress with animal horns.

The 1st District deserves better than Tracey Mann.

And voters have a better choice.

Mann is being challenged by Eric Bloom, a Lawrence property investor and farm owner.

Unfortunately, Bloom is not well-known and is running a self-funded shoestring campaign, more as an exercise in civics than anything else.

Bloom’s previous candidate experience was a long-shot run at lieutenant governor, 22 years ago. His father, the late Dan Bloom, a longtime school superintendent, ran in the Republican primary for governor that year and needed a placeholder for the second spot on the ticket, so he tapped his young son to fill it.

Bloom, now 45 and financially secure, was inspired to enter this year’s congressional race by the example of an aunt who year after year recruits Democrats to run in deep-red Nemaha County, so people there will have choices when they vote.

“I know the reality of somebody who’s running without a PAC, and you know, running against a two-time incumbent; the math does not bode well,” Bloom admits. “At the same time, I have to believe just like my aunt that this is our system of government and that’s why a democracy is wonderful. And if we don’t give ourselves choices, well then it’s not really a democracy is it?”

On the issues, Bloom defines himself as anti-MAGA and an opponent of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a right-wing wish list of government services to be put on the chopping block if Trump wins a second term.

Bloom is pro-choice, which puts him on the side of 60% of Kansans (though not the 1st District, where the ill-fated 2022 anti-abortion-rights amendment called “Value Them Both” enjoyed its strongest support).

The only reason Bloom is eligible to represent the 1st District is because Republicans in the Kansas Legislature gerrymandered the overwhelmingly red district to include — and cancel — progressive and Democratic voters in Lawrence. The Big First now absurdly spans nearly the 400-mile width of the state, from Colorado almost to Missouri.

If nothing else, a vote for Bloom would annoy GOP elders in Topeka, and send a message about the perils of abusing the district-mapping process.

If you cherish American democracy like we do, Eric Bloom isn’t just the best choice. He’s the only choice.

This story was originally published August 1, 2024 at 5:15 AM.