Endorsements: Congressional races in Kansas districts 1 and 4 offer stark contrasts | Opinion

Our endorsement process starts — and sometimes stops — with one simple issue: Candidates who want our nod must have a history of respecting election results, and a commitment to doing so in the future.

Two incumbents running for Congress in our region failed that test on Jan. 6, 2021: Rep. Ron Estes of the 4th District and Rep. Tracey Mann of the 1st District, both Republicans, both voted against certifying Joe Biden’s presidential victory.

In doing so, they gave aid and comfort to the insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol that day and chased them from their own offices and legislative chamber. Neither has expressed contrition, nor given any public sign of reconsideration.

Simply put, both Estes and Mann had the opportunity to make a choice — loyalty to the American system of representative democratic governance, or loyalty to one man, Donald Trump.

They both chose wrong.

They may well win their reelection campaigns. But they do not get our endorsement.

Instead, these are our endorsements for the 4th and 1st districts.

Esau Freeman, 4th District

The Democratic candidate challenging Estes is Esau Freeman. He’s a familiar face to area voters.

He ran for this seat in 2012, but was defeated in a Democratic primary by retired court services officer Robert Tillman.

Frankly, if Freeman were the same rough-around-the-edges candidate he was 12 years ago, we probably would have done a “no endorsement” editorial and left it at that.

But people can learn and grow, and Freeman has done so. His political and organizational skills and knowledge of government have improved — a lot.

His current job is business representative for the local chapter of the Service Employees International Union, where he represents employees of Wichita City Hall and Wichita school district USD 259. In the past 10 years, he’s demonstrated an ability to negotiate for workable outcomes in adversarial circumstances, a skill sorely lacking in Washington, D.C.

In 2014, he spearheaded the campaign for Wichita’s marijuana decriminalization initiative. It was not legalization, but it would have reduced the penalties so as not to forever wreck the lives of young people caught dabbling with the demon weed. The initiative, brought to the ballot by petition, was approved by voters citywide, but was later struck down in court on technical grounds.

Freeman is also a supporter of abortion rights — a position supported by 6 in 10 Kansas voters who rejected the anti-abortion-rights “Value Them Both” constitutional amendment two years ago — and a sharp contrast to Estes’ life-begins-at-conception stance.

Gov. Laura Kelly has endorsed Freeman. We do too.

Paul Buskirk, 1st District

It is ridiculous that Buskirk is even eligible to represent this district. The “Big First” was — and remains — dominated by Western Kansas. But Republicans in the Kansas Legislature two years ago redrew the district to include Lawrence in order to sideline that town’s liberal voters.

That gerrymandering put Buskirk, a longtime staffer in the University of Kansas athletics department, in position to challenge Mann. He has gamely hit the road in recent months to introduce himself across the district.

Buskirk told us he differs with Mann on several issues:

▪ Abortion: Mann has long held a stalwart anti-abortion position. “I will protect the freedom of all human beings to be able to manage their health care, their reproductive rights,” Buskirk said. “It’s a human right.”

▪ Ukraine: Mann in April voted against a $60 billion aid package to Ukraine to aid its defense against the Russian invasion, calling the bill an “irresponsible” blank check. Buskirk said he “100%” supports that aid. “They are a sovereign nation protecting themselves.”

▪ Immigration: Mann has joined his party in calling for a crackdown on migration at the border with Mexico. Buskirk — rightly, in our estimation — points out that the GOP’s proposed “mass deportations” would have a devastating effect on the 1st District, where thousands of migrants provide much of the labor supply in western Kansas meatpacking districts.

The effects of deportations would be “massive” in the 1st, Buskirk said. The loss of labor would “mimic the impact that COVID had” on the packing plants, feedlots and other agricultural operations.

Buskirk is a political novice. But he is clearly committed to public service, and to defending American democracy. He has our endorsement.

This story was originally published October 29, 2024 at 10:23 AM.