Meet the Republican-turned-Democrat who could flip a Senate seat in Kansas
In the heartland state of Kansas, long seen as deep-red territory where Democrats rarely have a shot at winning key elections, hope is beginning to stir that the party could pull off an unlikely win in a crucial Senate seat.
The state senator Barbara Bollier, a former Republican and physician, is the vehicle for these ambitions – which if they came off could decide whether the party grabs overall control of the US Senate in January.
Bollier has proved to be a formidable fundraiser and, in an interview with the Guardian, described how she plans to attract independents and Republicans in Kansas in the general election against an establishment Republican candidate, the US congressman Roger Marshall.
“What I want to highlight is the fact that as a physician, as a current legislator, I am an independent voice and work hard to listen to the people and bring their ideas and needs forward in a bipartisan fashion, cooperating and working together,” Bollier said in an interview with the Guardian.
Bollier left the Republican party in 2018. She said she had grown dissatisfied with the party’s opposition to Medicaid expansion and record on balancing budgets. She said that those priorities “are still in place with me but they were not being followed by the Republican leadership in this state”.
“They were not following public education,” Bollier said, adding that the then Republican Kansas governor, Sam Brownback, “put in a horrific tax plan that broke and caused us to have to borrow money to meet our bills. That is not a traditional Republican value, borrowing money. And at a point you realize: ‘I can best represent our people following the values that they want as a Democrat.’”
Democrats have not controlled a Senate seat in Kansas since 1939 and the state votes reliably Republican in presidential races. But in 2018 Laura Kelly, also a state senator, beat the anti-immigration hardliner Kris Kobach to win the Kansas governor’s race, a sign that there is a precarious route for Democrats to win statewide.
Bollier had also hoped to face Kobach, but Kobach lost to Marshall.
The added rub now is that most campaigning for Bollier has had to be virtual or socially distanced because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Campaigning has been very unique during Covid as we’ve done a tremendous amount … on the internet, Zoom, Facebook Live,” Bollier said. “Of course tremendous numbers of phone calls. We did a virtual bus tour.
Now that we’re moving forward in understanding this disease and understanding that if I wear a mask and another person wears a mask and we’re socially distancing, there will be opportunity to do more of me moving out of my home.”
Both Bollier and Marshall are physicians. They both graduated from the same medical school. But they have taken different approaches to campaigning during the pandemic. Bollier’s campaign events are distanced and mostly virtual and Marshall’s have been in person, mirroring the national strategies of the Donald Trump and Joe Biden campaigns.
Marshall has also said every week he takes two tablets of hydroxychloroquine, the drug Trump has touted as a treatment for coronavirus. Research has found hydroxychloroquine does not prevent Covid-19 and the Food and Drug Administration has warned that there are serious health risks connected to taking the drug.
The divergent approaches in campaigning and public stances on healthcare are what, Democrats hope, will boost Bollier and create an upset win for the party.
Scott Fairchild, executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, touted Bollier’s background in a recent podcast interview with David Plouffe, former campaign manager for Barack Obama.
“I think we’ve recruited a stellar candidate,” Fairchild said. “She’s an impressive doctor, moderate Republican turned moderate Democrat. She’s raising a lot of money. I think she’s going to make that race really competitive.”
Polling generally shows Marshall leading Bollier by single digits. Democrats often point to the cash advantage Bollier had entering the general election – over $4m to Marshall’s $600,000.
When asked if she thought her chances of winning the seat had shrunk when Marshall beat Kobach, Bollier pushed back and pointed to Medicaid expansion.
“This state desperately wants and needs Medicaid expansion and healthcare access. And every one of them stood against it, including Roger Marshall. He still does. And has tried to end the Affordable Care Act in the middle of a pandemic,” Bollier said.
She added: “Four hundred thousand people in Kansas have pre-existing conditions, so you have to have another plan there for them to have insurance. So, no, my campaign speaks for itself.”
Another question for the general election is how much damage the divided primary did to Marshall. Trump refrained from weighing in on the primary, though he did congratulate Marshall after he won.
But major Republican organizations have rallied around the Kansas congressman.
“Marshall’s significant win was a huge, critical victory for the pro-business majority and the business community,” Ashlee Rich Stephenson, the political director for the influential US Chamber of Commerce, said in an email.