What's the matter with Kansas Republicans? In a state where Bush captured over 60 percent of the vote in 2004, a tiny revolution is taking place, with more and more Republicans running as Democrats in state elections. Its ripples may be spreading throughout the country.
This November, nine former Kansas Republicans are running as Democrats, including one for the office of lieutenant governor and another for that of attorney general. For years, moderates and conservatives have been battling within the Kansas Republican Party, mostly over social issues such as abortion and evolution. As moderates get pushed out, they sometimes wind up with a ‘D' next to their name.
“It was a drip, now it's a trickle,” says Joe Aistrup, head of the department of political science at Kansas State University. Mark Parkinson is part of that trickle. Parkinson chaired the state GOP from 1999 to 2003 but is now running as the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor. “They were fixated on ideological issues that really don't matter to people's everyday lives,” he told the London Observer in June. “What matters is improving schools and creating jobs. I got tired of the theological debate over whether Charles Darwin was right.”
The success of Governor Kathleen Sebelius is certainly one of the reasons for the Democratic growth. Eschewing social issues, she has received praise for eliminating a $1.1 billion budget deficit, strengthening public education, and creating jobs in Kansas, much of which she did with strong bipartisan support. Touted as a potential vice presidential candidate in 2008, she will likely be re-elected in November. A July Rasmussen poll showed her with a double-digit lead over potential Republican contenders and a 70 percent favorability rating. With those strengths, she has been able to woo Parkinson and other moderate Republicans away from a party that increasingly does not seem to want them. According to Aistrup, this “could be a harbinger of a more large-scale movement out of the Republican Party in Kansas.”
But Kansas isn't alone. In South Carolina, 5th Circuit Solicitor Barney Giese, a longtime Republican, has decided to run for reelection as a Democrat. “My relationship with some of the leaders of the Republican Party is damaged,” Giese told the South Carolina State in February. “Translation: The GOP tent wasn't big enough for the moderate solicitor,” wrote State columnist Lee Bandy.
Even NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley has switched teams, according to the New York Post. “I was a Republican,” he said. “Until they lost their minds.” He is now mulling a run for governor of Alabama as a Democrat.
The most prominent ex-Republican to run for office as a Democrat this year is Jim Webb, the nominee for Senate in Virginia. Webb, who served as the Secretary of the Navy under Ronald Reagan, had previously written articles caustically attacking Vietnam War protesters and arguing that affirmative action has created a “state-sponsored racism.” (He says he supports affirmative action for blacks, but believes poor whites should also benefit from diversity programs.) But the Johnny-come-lately quality of his switch to the Democratic Party didn't seem to hurt him in the Virginia senate primary; he beat a long-time Democratic activist in June who outspent him nearly two to one, and now faces George Allen, a Republican with presidential aspirations -- and the man whom Webb voted for only six years ago.
“I think that our primary showed that the Democratic Party is ready to welcome back moderates, independents, conservative Democrats, Reagan Democrats, libertarian Democrats -- whatever label you want to put on us,” Webb told the Prospect by email.
Some voters and activists may have reservations about supporting candidates they believe can win but who may not conform to party orthodoxy. When it comes to ex-Republican candidates, the question of Democratic authenticity -- not to mention ideological acceptability -- becomes even more glaring. But if the party is big enough to house everyone from Baucus to Boxer, surely it can welcome Republican converts, especially in places like Kansas and Virginia where Democrats need to become more competitive if they ever hope to regain majority party status.
“The more converts you get, the bigger the party you have. Are there going to be some people inside the Democratic Party who are resentful of switchers? Yes, there are people like that,” said political analyst Stuart Rothenberg. “[But] of course it's better for the Democrats to get those switches because it means: a) the party is attractive to people who it wasn't attractive to in the past; and b) that's how parties grow!”
Rothenberg noted that the fracture between moderates and conservatives in Kansas could lead to Democratic gains in 2006 in that state. Meanwhile, a July Zogby poll showed that while Webb trailed Allen by ten points, Allen's numbers continued to reside below 50 percent, indicating that he is vulnerable, and pollster John Zogby called it a competitive race.
But the implications extend beyond 2006, or even 2008. As the country witnesses the massive failure of Republican governance, coupled with the increasing isolation and elimination of the party's moderate wing, large swaths of the electorate may be up for grabs. Webb thinks so. He says that despite his party switch, his basic beliefs haven't changed. “I'm a realist on foreign policy, a moderate on social policy, and a populist on economic policy,” he said. “Thirty years ago, the Republican Party embraced people like me. Today, however, the Republicans' extreme wing has pulled the party so far outside the mainstream that a lot of people who share my basic beliefs are looking for new leadership.” If he is right, and if more Americans who share Webb's views start heading to their county election offices, the current trickle could turn into a flood -- one that could carry Democrats back to power.
Benjamin Weyl is a Prospect intern.
