KS-SEN: Pompeo is out. Now Democrats see an opportunity for Kansas Senate seat.

[RandySF]

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's decision not to run for the Senate has enlivened Kansas Democrats, who think they have a shot at flipping one of the few open Senate seats in the country this year — one that has been in Republican hands for more than a century.

Since Pompeo bowed out of the race, the leading Democratic contender, state Sen. Barbara Bollier, has announced that she raised more than $1 million in her first quarter in the contest, unprecedented for a Democratic Senate hopeful in Kansas.

In the days following the Pompeo news, Bollier has received call-outs on Twitter from Democrats such as Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.) and had record online fundraising, with more than $80,000 from 1,700 contributors, according to her campaign.

“It’s very exciting,” said Vicki Hiatt, chairman of the Kansas Democratic Party. “Several months ago, we didn’t know which direction things were going. Now it looks like Democrats have a strong possibility of picking up a U.S. Senate seat.”

Democrats in Kansas, a state that has been reliably red in national elections, have experienced a mini-surge over the past two years, with voters electing Laura Kelly governor and Sharice Davids, a lesbian Native American, to the U.S. House in 2018. Three Republican state legislators recently have changed their party affiliation from Republican to Democrat, including Bollier.

Pompeo was courted by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for months and would have entered the race as a hands-down favorite for the seat. Now Republicans face a bruising primary battle between Kris Kobach, a former secretary of state and ally of President Trump who lost the governor’s race a year ago, and a host of ho-hum establishment candidates who have not inspired confidence in the Republican leadership.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/pompeo-is-out-now-democrats-see-an-opportunity-for-kansas-senate-seat/2020/01/13/647d29ec-340b-11ea-9313-6cba89b1b9fb_story.html

[NewJeffCT]

1. Former US Attorney Barry Grissom

was leading Kobach by 10 points in an early poll.

However, a woman that was a Republican until a few years ago enters the race and Grissom drops out and she's polling only 5 points ahead of Kobach.

I wish her luck, though.

[aeromanKC]

2. Add another race for the GOP to have to defend ($$)

There is only so much money to go around to defend all of their seats with which makes all the defendable seats that much more vulnerable.
AND double bonus if Kobach is the KS GOP candidate the Dems will be able to connect Kobach to the GOP in their ads some of which for sure will go viral or national. Not a good look for the GOP nationally.

[Gothmog]

3. I really hope that Kobach is the GOP nnminee

This idiot is terrible