Let's talk election integrity...

For the past four years, a good number of elected Republicans haven’t stopped wailing about the need for election integrity.

It’s important, they’ve said, that the people of Kansas have faith that their elections are fair and safe from fraud. They’ve even passed a handful of laws to try and set doubters’ minds at ease.

I’d argue election security begins with candidates who have enough integrity to be truthful about where they have lived, where they live, where they have voted, and where they plan to make a home.

Here in Hutchinson’s 102nd District, we have two Republican candidates - one who seems to have lived in three different addresses in the course of a few weeks, and another who whose listed address is an empty house that doesn’t have a stitch of furniture or any sign of inhabitation.

The historical term for this is “Carpetbagger.”

plural noun: carpetbaggers

1. a political candidate who seeks election in an area where they have no local connections.

   • HISTORICAL

     (in the US) a person from the northern states who went to the South after the Civil War to profit from the Reconstruction.

   • a person perceived as an unscrupulous opportunist.

     "the organization is rife with carpetbaggers"

One candidate appears to be an outcropping of the Mark Steffen/Mike Murphy camp. This one at least actually has some recent tie to Reno County. But here’s the run down of his entry into the race.

• His first voting record in Kansas is from the 2020 General election, and all of his voting has been done outside of the 102nd District.

• On May 10, 2024, he filed to run for the 114th House District, using a Nickerson address.

• On May 16, 2024, he wrote a letter withdrawing from the 114th House District Race.

• Then, on May, 24, 2024, he changed his voting address and filed to run in the 102nd District.

• As of the filing deadline, his wife is still registered at their old address in the 104th House District.

(Note: I did stop by both candidate’s listed addresses. The above candidate did in fact answer the door at the address. UPDATE: The wife of the aforementioned candidate responded and provided context and explanation on this matter. I’ll link to the Facebook post with her comments and post her comments at the bottom of this column).

But the establishment Republicans, it seems, weren’t very satisfied with this candidate. When they couldn’t find a candidate who actually lives in Hutchinson, they imported one with no connection to our community.

Here’s that candidate’s history…

• His first voting record in Kansas is from the 2020 General Election. He’s voted in the 2020 and the 2022 General elections.

• All of his voting has taken place in Harvey County

• On May 30, 2024, he changed his voting address to a Hutchinson home. On May 31, he filed to run as a Republican candidate in the 102nd House District.

• As of June 3 - the filing deadline - the candidate’s listed address remained empty.

I know very little about these candidates, their experience, ideas, or how they plan to help Hutchinson. But I can take a guess at what’s going on here. Well, it’s not a guess because I’ve had conversations with people who know what’s going on.

The Republican's desperately want to hold onto their supermajority. If they lose it, things like Medicaid Expansion and Marijuana legalization might actually happen. The political winds are shifting in some urban areas, so desperate times call for desperate measures - hence the non-resident candidates.

This interest in the 102nd District seems to have very little to do with Hutchinson or me as a candidate and legislator. It appears to be rooted in a broader political game where every seat is a piece on a political board game.

And that’s what bothers me the most.

I could respect a contest against someone who has some tie to Hutchinson, who, if he or she wins the race, would actually care about our community and the people who live here. Someone who has sovereign ideas and won’t just be some party tool in D.C.-style political shenanigans.

But I question how much someone can care about our community when they are seemingly willing to use it as a pawn in a political game. And I wonder how much they care about election integrity when they aren’t forthcoming about where they live, or if they actually do live here, their motivation for moving right before the filing deadline.

It’s one thing if the voters of Hutchinson grow tired of my efforts to represent their interests in Topeka. Or if they like another local candidate’s ideas better than mine, and tell my that my time is up. That’s how this politics thing goes.

But the voters of Hutchinson - and every community - deserve to vote on candidates who have a vested interest in the districts they are running to represent. And they certainly deserve to vote on candidates who actually live in the districts they want to represent.

And, as someone who has lived in the district for most of my adult life, I want people in elected positions who know and understand the story of our community. I want people who know our strengths, weaknesses, and the people who call Hutch home.

So from now until August, these two Republican candidates will duke it out and try to convince the voters of Hutchinson that they have stepped into the race out of some deep commitment to our community and our state. They’ll likely talk about their strong Christian values and the importance of integrity in our elections. And one of them will win the Republican primary.

Then they’ll work tirelessly and spend lots of SuperPAC money to convince you in November that, notwithstanding their fresh entry into our community, they will better represent the interests of Hutchinson.

That means I’ll again rely on my community for support to continue representing Hutchinson’s 102nd House District. If you would like to keep our representation local, there are going to be a lot of ways to help…

I’ve been honored to serve the people of Hutchinson - a place I’ve called home for more than 20 years. With your continued help and support, we’ll keep working together - locally - to create real change in our community, and state.

Thank you!

Paid for by Probst for Kansas, Erin Swearer, treasurer

Facebook post link with explanation from one of the candidates.

Screen shot of the comments below…