Residents vote in Lawrence on Aug. 4, 2026. Kansans overwhelmingly rejected a constitutional amendment revamping how state Supreme Court justices were selected.(Photo by Baya Burgess/Kansas Reflector)
Four years ago, Kansans said “hell no” to a constitutional amendment clearing the way for extremists to ban abortion.
On Tuesday, Kansans said “hell no” again, this time to a constitutional amendment clearing the way for a conservative revamp of the state Supreme Court — banning abortion and gutting public education.
Somehow, that message hasn’t been received.
Browsing social media on Tuesday night and Wednesday turned into a surreal experience for this journalist, as I watched Republicans grappling with a 22-percentage-point rejection of their agenda. Four years ago, the same voices were stunned by the state’s solidly pro-choice majority, and I poked good-natured fun at their incomprehension at the time.
Some of these commenters hide behind pseudonyms. Others serve in public-facing roles. Regardless, they all want you to know that conservative Republicans were the real victims here.
Kansas is going to be a blue state in the next 4 years.
Let me go out on a not-very-long limb here and say that this Tweet is not true.
As much as I might wish it, and as much as some advocates may hope, Republican roots run deep in this state. That doesn’t mean residents love rightwing orthodoxy, just that they love voting for the GOP.
As I wrote yesterday, amazing things happen in Kansas when party labels aren’t affixed to elections. Voters were free to make a choice without the baggage of partisanship. This, incidentally, is why the Kansas Legislature will never create a citizen initiative or direct democracy process.
Republicans in Kansas have now twice stupidly tried to pass constitutional amendments during primary elections when low turnout allows democrats to swamp the voting and defeat the amendments.
The best chance for amendments is in the general election of a presidential cycle!
I’ve seen a couple of posts make this point, and they misunderstand the situation completely.
Republicans may have been stupid. But they had a plan. Kansas has nearly twice as many registered Republicans as registered Democrats, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. Back in 2022, and this year, they placed constitutional amendments on midterm primary ballots in hopes of rigging the outcomes.
Democrats usually don’t face contested primary races. Independents don’t have anything to vote for at all. That means Republicans, and Republicans alone, have been trained to show up for primaries.
GOP leaders thought they could choose those casting ballots, rather than making a case to the entire state. That was the plan.
One of the worldwide trends in the rise of the authoritarian judge, jumping into leftist political causes with no accountability. Every new conservative leader sees this as a major threat but no one has been able to tame it. Even in my home state of Kansas an amendment lost. Bad.
“Bad” indeed, Mr. Schlapp. You might know him as chairman of the American Conservative Union, which holds the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC. He has also been accused, multiple times, of being a sex pest.
But hey, let’s watch out for those authoritarian judges here in the Sunflower State, with their seditious ideas that women have control over their own bodies and children have a right to education.
Kansans voted to turn down the opportunity to vote for their Supreme Court justices, so lib donor lawyers can keep selecting them, all in the name of “preserving abortion rights.” The Abortion Capital of the Midwest has a huge issue with: 1. lack of Republican voter turnout;…
The good people of Johnson County will be surprised to learn that, in the words of Mr./Ms. Victory or Death, that they are “commie libs.”
In the old days, we called them moderate Republicans and they voted for Bill Graves. You know, the same two-term Republican governor who co-wrote an op-ed for Kansas Reflector about the importance of an independent judiciary.
But Kansas Republicans no longer nominate candidates like Graves. They turned up their noses at moderate Vicki Schmidt on primary night. So Johnson County voters have decided to vote — and change their voter registrations — accordingly.
Finally, Rep. Blake Carpenter, R-Derby, made clear on Facebook that as much as Kansans might want to move on to other issues, Republicans won’t be satisfied after Tuesday’s walloping.
“I know there will be people who say this debate is over and that those of us who support reform should simply move on,” he wrote in a remarkably dyspeptic dispatch. “I disagree. If we believe the current system is unaccountable, then we have a responsibility to continue advocating for something better.”
Earlier in the message, Carpenter advocates “a system more like the federal model, or at least adopt a commission where citizens hold the majority instead of attorneys.”
He won’t take “no” for an answer.
So after a day or two of rest, progressive advocates will take a deep breath, roll up their sleeves, and go back to work. For Kansans who want to preserve our shared rights and freedoms, no single win at the ballot box will ever be enough.
Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
