Moderate Kansas @ModerateKS

Strong rural hospitals keep strong rural communities. This week Joe Newland toured Morris County Hospital and visited with the administrators and staff working to keep quality care close to home in Council Grove.

keyboard_arrow_left Previous keyboard_arrow_right Next

Kansas was once one of the most fusion-friendly states in America. Long before our modern political divisions hardened, Kansans regularly built coalitions across party lines. Republicans, Populists, independents, and reformers often united behind common candidates and common causes. Even Abraham Lincoln’s rise to the presidency depended on fusion politics, bringing together anti-slavery voters from different political movements who understood that principles matter more than party labels. By the 1890s, fusion politics was thriving in Kansas. It gave voters more choices, encouraged cooperation, and allowed political movements to grow without forcing people into one of two boxes. Then, in 1901, Kansas banned it. For more than a century, Kansans have been denied a political freedom that previous generations exercised openly. Voters can support multiple causes. Citizens can belong to multiple organizations. Groups can work together on shared goals. Yet political parties are uniquely restricted from jointly supporting the same candidate. That restriction remained largely unquestioned until 2024. Today, a legal challenge is asking a simple but important question: Does the Kansas Constitution protect the right of political association strongly enough to allow fusion politics once again? This is not really about Democrats or Republicans. It is not about left versus right. It is about whether Kansans are free to organize politically in the way they choose. The Kansas Constitution recognizes that political power originates with the people. Political parties are voluntary associations of citizens. If citizens wish to work together across traditional party lines, government should have a very good reason before telling them they cannot. Fusion voting is not a radical idea. It is not new. It is part of Kansas history. For decades, it helped shape our state. It encouraged coalition building, rewarded consensus, and gave voters more meaningful choices. Whether you agree with fusion voting or not, the constitutional question deserves serious consideration. Rights that disappear for 125 years are still rights worth examining. Sometimes progress is not about inventing something new. Sometimes it is about restoring something we lost. 🌻 Kansas once trusted its citizens to build political coalitions as they saw fit. Perhaps it is time to ask whether that trust should be restored. @FusionVoting #KsLeg #KsCourts

Today as I weave my way through appointments at the VA in Topeka, I found myself thinking of our Afghan Allies. The ones we didn’t get out. I still receive messages from them struggling to make unbelievable choices. Recently one wrote, “This is another painful truth I want to share with you: people are being forced to sell their young children just so the rest of their family can survive and have something to eat. The media here is under Taliban control, and the reality of life is far worse than what is shown. Life has become unbearable, full of pain and suffering.” America has always been more than a place on a map. At our best, we have been a beacon of hope for people fleeing oppression, war, and tyranny. Refugee resettlement is not some new idea. It is part of who we are as Americans. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” That spirit helped build this country. A lot of people do not realize that legal refugees are some of the most heavily vetted people who enter the United States. The process takes years. Background checks, biometric screening, interviews, intelligence reviews. These are families who survived horrible situations and still believed enough in America to fight for a chance to come here legally and build a better life. And they contribute. They work in factories, hospitals, schools, farms, construction, trucking, and small businesses. They become taxpayers, homeowners, entrepreneurs, and neighbors. They help hold entire communities and local economies together. After the fall of Kabul in 2021, a team of us helped resettle 250 Afghan allies here in Kansas. These were people who stood beside American troops and diplomats during the war. Some of them risked their lives for us. They were some of the best people I have ever worked with. Growing up in Dodge City, immigrants were part of the lifeblood of the community. The economy depended on them. The schools adapted. The town adapted. Generations of kids grew up together and figured out how to become Americans together. It was not always perfect, but we made it work because that is what communities do. We cannot abandon the values that made this country what it is. We can have secure borders and still honor legal immigration and refugee resettlement. Those things are not opposites. America has always been strongest when we combined security with opportunity, freedom, and compassion. If we lose that, then we lose part of what made America exceptional in the first place. @afghanevac @RESCUEorg

The @UnitedKansas Party is pushing to bring back fusion voting—allowing multiple parties to nominate the same candidate, so voters can support who they prefer without being locked into the two-party system. @TimVCarpenter @KansasReflector

Watch Borgen: no party has a majority—and that’s not chaos, it’s how democracy works. Coalition-building, compromise, and real progress. A reminder that multi-party systems can govern—and govern well.

keyboard_arrow_left Previous keyboard_arrow_right Next

In a fusion-legal system, minor parties stay both independent and relevant — and hundreds of legislators have won office with support from voters across more than one party line. That’s coalition politics in action. @DanCantor_

@SecretaryTurner @POTUS You got hit in the head too much bro

The Populist Party utilized fusion voting to cross-endorse Democrats and Republicans, advocating for antitrust regulation and basic labor protections. This led to the Populist Party having a greater voice in elections and in states like Kansas, despite being a minor party.

Fusion’s power is simple: it creates meaningful new political identities. It lets voters — left, right, and center — support their values without being forced to back a party whose broader agenda they can’t accept. More choice. More voice. @DanCantor_

Masterson doubles his Senate president salary to $85,000 & he also gets a state-funded salary of about $170,000 (sez he doesn’t get paid at that job during legislative session) as director of a Koch center at WSU? Meanwhile he underfunds special education kansasreflector.com/2026/03/04/kan…

A DOGE bro just admitted he thinks veterans’ issues are “DEI.” 🤦‍♂️🇺🇸 He terminated grants that helped veterans because he supposedly “read books” about how bad they are… then couldn’t name a single book. 📚❌ As a veteran, I honestly don’t know how anyone who served could vote for Trump — never mind half. Veterans deserve respect and support, not culture-war nonsense. #Veterans #VA #SupportVeterans #Accountability

The @UnitedKansas Party challenges the 125-year prohibition on multiparty nominations. Learn more from @TimVCarpenter @KansasReflector: kansasreflector.com/2026/02/24/kan…

🎙️ On the latest This Old Democracy, Micah Sifry sits down with Aaron Estabrook to discuss United Kansas — a new political party and reform movement fighting to restore fusion voting and broaden voter choice. With a key lawsuit over Kansas’ anti-fusion laws heading to oral arguments, this conversation couldn’t be more timely.

Legislative panel cuts three major state universities, targets DEI and administrative leaders #ksleg sunflowerstatejournal.com/legislative-pa… via @sfstatejournal

On #KansasDay, I’m announcing my candidacy for the Kansas House in District 66. 🌻 Kansas was built by people who worked across differences to solve real problems. I’m running to bring common-sense solutions, accountability, and people-first leadership to Topeka. Learn more: ElectEstabrook.com 🇺🇸 #ksleg #ksed

Fusion used to be legal everywhere 100+ years ago, but today it really only exists in NY, CT, and a few limited cases elsewhere. So if you’ve never heard of it, you’re not alone. Here’s the simple version: Fusion lets a political party nominate a candidate who’s already been nominated by another party — often a minor party cross-nominating a major-party candidate.

🎙️ Your next listen is here. A brand new podcast #ThisOldDemocracy episode just hit the feed! @jefftimmer is working on building the Common Sense Party in Michigan, a fusion party committed to protecting the rule of law and democracy.

Lawsuit challenges KBI marijuana raids; Agency says lawsuit is a distraction from retailers who violate the law. #ksleg sunflowerstatejournal.com/lawsuit-challe… via @sfstatejournal

If you receive an illegal order, you have a duty to disobey. This isn’t controversial. A President calling for the execution of anyone who reminds service members of this oath is showing us why the duty to disobey illegal orders is so important in the first place.

We mourn the passing of former Kansas Senate President Steve Morris (1946–2025) — a true statesman who led with integrity, civility, and a commitment to collaboration. His legacy of service to Kansas will not be forgotten. 🕊️ Rest in peace, Steve. sunflowerstatejournal.com/former-senate-… #ksleg