Endorsement: Kansas Senate District 26; Second verse same as the first | Opinion

Back in August, we endorsed J.C. Moore over Chase Blasi in the GOP primary for the District 26 seat in the Kansas Senate. Republican voters disagreed: Blasi beat Moore.

Normally that would be the end of it.

But this is not a normal election year in many ways.

And Moore is back for another round against Blasi in the general election, this time representing the newly founded United Kansas Party. There is a Democrat running — Raymond Shore Jr. — but he apparently is absent from the race: Shore has not responded to media outlets seeking information and has no online presence.

That leaves us with the choice — again — between Blasi and Moore.

We see no reason to alter our original decision. Moore has our endorsement.

Indeed, we believe that Moore is a better fit in this race as a third-party candidate than as a Republican. His positions — for Medicaid expansion and medical marijuana legalization, and opposed to abortion restrictions passed against the will of Kansas voters who rejected the Value Them Both amendment in 2022 — are a poor fit for the current version of the GOP.

But those same positions put Moore in line with the vast majority of Kansas voters, who have had their preferences stymied time and again by the GOP supermajorities in the Kansas Legislature.

Moore would empower those voters to push their agenda: He favors bringing voter-initiated referenda to Kansas — the same tool that Missouri voters used to pass Medicaid expansion and marijuana legalization despite the opposition of Republican legislators in that state.

A system that allowed citizen-backed votes on big issues would let Kansans “avoid roadblocks in the Legislature,” Moore says on his website. “I plan to push for this.”

Both candidates have modest experience in the legislature. Moore served a term in the Kansas House in 2019 and 2020. Blasi was appointed last year to serve out the unfinished term of Gene Suellentrop in District 27. Blasi jumped districts in this election to run for the seat left open by the retirement of Dan Kerschen, Republican of Garden Plain.

Experience-wise, then, it’s a wash.

Back in August, we said: “Republican voters in District 26 — which includes Goddard, Cheney, Colwich, Andale, Garden Plain, Haysville, Viola and Clearwater — have a bright-line choice along policy lines between Blasi and Moore.”

We believed then that Moore was the better choice. We still do.

This story was originally published October 30, 2024 at 3:37 PM.