By Clay Wirestone | opinion editor
Good morning! A new, post-primary week has arrived, and with it a look at the freshly minted U.S. Senate race. We have also collected commentary and national news to round out today’s newsletter. Enjoy!
Tim Carpenter / Kansas Reflector
U.S. Senate race in Kansas between Marshall, Hamilton likely to consume more than $50 million
TOPEKA — Roger Marshall and Adam Hamilton will test in November the legacy of nearly a century of partisan dominance by Republicans over Democrats in U.S. Senate elections in Kansas.
Marshall, the Republican seeking reelection as a loyalist of President Donald Trump, easily brushed aside his August primary opponent. He faces a serious general election challenge from Hamilton, who founded the largest United Methodist church in the United States, proved to be a prolific political fundraiser and won the 11-candidate Democratic primary.
Slotting Hamilton against Marshall on the November ballot led prognosticators at Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball to downgrade the GOP advantage to a likely win rather than a slam dunk victory.
Campaign spending in the Senate contest was expected to surpass $50 million during the next three months, said Bob Beatty, a political science professor at Washburn University in Topeka.
“I still don’t think Kansas Democrats have woken up … to really what they have here. They will, but Roger Marshall knows,” Beatty said. “That’s why it’s going to be a big-time race, and I think that’s why people are going to look at it nationally, maybe, and be surprised. We got two candidates that we’ll be seeing a lot on the national TV.”
Sherman Smith / Kansas Reflector
OPINION
Achieving justice for Kansans means enforcing our state’s laws equally. That doesn’t happen now.
By Mark McCormick
A new campaign, the Kansas Enforcement Parity Act, designed by a grassroots political organizing group, aims to bring some balance to discrimination enforcement. Mainly, to address discrimination with the same urgency that anti-DEI enforcement receives.
Chloe Anderson for Kansas Reflector
Kansas professor falsely accused of espionage wants university to pay for firing, harm to reputation
TOPEKA — An anonymous tip accusing a Chinese-American chemist and researcher of espionage spurred the University of Kansas into action, notifying the U.S. Department of Justice and building a case against its own employee, Feng “Franklin” Tao said in a lawsuit.
With new tactics, ICE reaches new high in monthly arrests
Federal immigration agents are employing new tactics — from arresting academics at airports to setting up a checkpoint at a popular creek in a National Forest — to boost their arrest numbers, leading to more arrests in July than in any previous month of the Trump administration.
Trump urges shift in childhood vaccine recommendations, calls for splitting up MMR vaccine
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday signed a sweeping executive order that aims to reshape guidance surrounding childhood vaccines, standing alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and was met with immediate pushback.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Kansas Reflector staff will participate in the following free public forums.
6 p.m. Aug. 12, Celtic Fox in Topeka. Editor-in-chief Sherman Smith will answer audience questions about Kansas Reflector reporting on the primary and general elections. Host: Capital Area Democratic Women's Club.
3 p.m. Sept. 26, Washburn Library in Topeka. Opinion editor Clay Wirestone will participate in the panel “Why UPK: University Press of Kansas Celebrates 80 Years.” Host: Kansas Book Festival.
2 p.m. Sept. 27, Red Rocks Visitor Center in Emporia. Host: Red Rocks.
7 p.m. Sept. 29, Raven Book Store in Lawrence. Book release event for opinion editor Clay Wirestone’s “Opinionated.” Editor-in-chief Sherman Smith will moderate.
6 p.m. Oct. 12, Riverbank Brewing in Council Grove. Opinion editor Clay Wirestone talks about his book and the latest news. Host: Flint Hills Books.
6 p.m. Dec. 3, Prairie Star Restaurant in Manhattan. Host: League of Women Voters of Manhattan and Riley County.
If you're interested in having us talk in your town, email Sherman Smith at [email protected].
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