Kansas Democrat connects with voters by pointing out ‘we were all lied to’ on inflation, immigration

TOPEKA — Democratic U.S. House candidate Lauren Reinhold says she has found a way to connect with disaffected Republicans and independent voters.

She has traveled more than 35,000 miles as she campaigns in the 1st District, which thanks to GOP gerrymandering now stretches from her home in Lawrence to the western half of the state. She is running against Republican Rep. Tracey Mann, a three-term incumbent who won by 39 percentage points just two years ago.

But, Reinhold said on the Kansas Reflector podcast, a lot has changed in two years. People in the district are hurt economically and “fed up with some of the radical policies” of President Donald Trump’s administration, she said.

“As I like to point out on the trail, we were all lied to,” Reinhold said. “We were told that we would make more money, that inflation would go down, that prices would go down, that the immigration enforcement surge would only be to get out the worst of the worst, the criminals, and we would stay out of wars. And none of that’s true. It’s the opposite, and people are starting to realize it.”

Reinhold’s foray into the political world was spurred by last year’s firing spree by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. She accepted a buyout and left her job at the Social Security Administration. Faced with a “big, unexpected void” in her career, as she put it, but still wanting to serve, she decided to run for office.

She defeated Colin McRoberts, a business law professor at the University of Kansas, to win the Democratic nomination in the August primary.

On the campaign trail, she expected people in the ultra-conservative congressional district to say, “Go away, you Lawrenceite.”

Instead, she made personal connections.

“When I’m out there talking to folks, I’m just a mom — a middle-age mom, a regular person, who’s just hearing the issues and letting them know my experience and what I want to do in Washington,” Reinhold said.

And they are telling her “they are fed up with irrational wars and unstable tariff and trade policies and affordability,” she said. “They’re worried about being able to afford their lives.”

Reinhold said economic security is the defining issue of the campaign. She said Congress needs to reform healthcare, raise the minimum wage, balance the tax system and end “crazy military engagements” around the world.

The first piece of legislation she would introduce or support if elected would be immigration reform.

“The reason why we have so many undocumented people, and the reason why we have this divide, and now this ICE enforcement terrorism, really, in a way that is dividing us a lot, is because we’ve been overdue for comprehensive immigration reform for decades,” she said.

She said Congress needs to create classes of visas for agriculture, both seasonal and year-round, as well as visas for construction and other fields. There also needs to be a path to citizenship, she said.

Congress also needs to provide oversight over U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement, she said. The recent raids in southwest Kansas, which disrupted the agriculture sector, she said, were examples of “militia-type behavior” that needs to be stopped.

“Congress needs to get ICE back operating as it should be under the law,” Reinhold said. “And the lies — we’ve been told that they’re prioritizing taking people with criminal records. They’re not. They’re taking anyone they can.”

Reinhold said the Republicans’ most recent proposal for a farm bill is inadequate because it lacks sufficient funding for the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program, conservation efforts and foreign aid.

“But everything in Congress is compromised,” she said, ” so I might end up voting for a farm bill that’s pretty similar to that one, if that’s the only compromise we can reach.”

She said it was time to consider legalizing marijuana for both medicinal and recreational use. On abortion rights, she said she believes in a woman’s complete and unfettered right to choose.

She said she supports background checks for firearm purchases and that she has applied for a concealed carry permit.

“I decided I needed to understand and learn how guns work and learn to shoot and all that before I could weigh in on such a difficult issue,” she said.

Mann’s office didn’t respond to repeated invitations for a podcast interview.