Yes, there’s this election business coming up this fall, and the (partial) results are already in. Yes, 24 Republicans and nine Democrats have basically been elected to the 125-member House, and five Republicans and one Democrat have basically been elected to the 40-member Senate.
That is the number—39—of lawmakers or lawmakers-to-be who have no primary election or general election opposition. So, unless they do something really…what’s the verb involved here…well, let’s go with dumb, they already have won. That really dumb? Maybe backing over their county party chairman’s dog, or robbing a liquor store or something like that.
And those non-opposed candidates? Well, this is the year that we get a read on just how politically smart they are. If your name is alone on the ballot for your House or Senate district, well, it’s going to be hard to lose unless you really screw up.
But that lack of opposition also means that out of respect for your constituents you figure a way to campaign anyway. To let them know that even though there is just one filed candidate, that candidate still respects the process and makes friends and promises to do his/her best to make the district and the state a better place to live for all of us.
Oh, there are also 13 House districts in which the race is essentially over at the primary election. In 10 districts, Republicans will choose among GOP candidates only and in three districts, it’s just a choice among Democrats. Then, the winner becomes the only name on the November ballot. In the Senate, there are five districts where the GOP primary election winner becomes the eventual senator, with no challengers in November.
Now that brings the election cycle for the Legislature down to 29 real Republican-Democrat scraps in the Senate and 79 in the House, for 108 races to be decided in November.
What about those 57 candidates who will be done in August? What do they do until they show up to winter in Topeka in January?
After all, those candidates are going to get to spend the winter with an underground parking garage, and it will be all indoor work. So, even those candidates probably ought to be campaigning to those single-choice voters this fall.
And where does that go? Well, we all want to know about taxes and who pays them and who doesn’t, and on what.
And then we’re going to want things to get nicer here, aren’t we? So, even if there’s no scrap at your ballot box, there ought to be some serious discussion on your doorstep, to make sure that the skating-into-office candidates ought to be selling themselves and what they want for you and your neighbors.
Like schools, as the yet-unassessed impact that COVID-19 has had on not only the basic skills like mathematics and geography and spelling, but the social skills that we’re going to want those students to gain while they aren’t able to interact as we did when we were in school.
And those all-but-in-office candidates probably ought to be prepared to tell you where they are on social programs for the poor, for food assistance to the hungry, and for your safety, ranging from what’s a reasonable penalty for criminals to what’s a reasonable plan for making sure that the state’s prisoners are safe, as well.
This shouldn’t be easy for the all-but-sworn in candidates. After all, they are going to be earning $88 a day in your money and mine…
Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver's Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com