By Sherman Smith | editor-in-chief
Good morning! Opinion editor Clay Wirestone offers a gloomy forecast for the political storm ahead. Our national partners are reporting on the states that could decide control of the U.S. Senate, and the president overhauling a program designed to prevent unintended pregnancies.
Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector
OPINION
Calm before the storm: These four issues could demolish Kansas state government by year’s end
By Care Wirestone
We wallow through late June, the long days alternating between prickling rain and sodden heat, news of the world outside obscured by the muggy haze of long weekends, summer vacations and evenings spent streaming “Widow’s Bay” (it’s excellent).
I enjoy the days, at last for now, because I know they offer the briefest respite before another wrenching political season.
Call it the calm before the storm, 2026 edition.
If my recent columns and the latest Kansas Reflector coverage haven’t convinced you, we’re in for some crazy times as summer decays into fall and fall freezes into winter. Our state’s politics may well shift hard to the right, with consequences playing out for decades to come. Please don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Jim Neuger/Maine Morning Star
Mildly blue or a blue tsunami? 9 states will decide if Dems flip control of U.S. Senate
Democrats are growing hopeful they can recapture the U.S. Senate in this fall’s midterm elections amid President Donald Trump’s plummeting approval ratings.
But they still need nearly everything to break their way against a map that put them at a starting disadvantage, analysts and campaign officials say.
At the outset of this election cycle, Republicans appeared highly likely to hold their majority. Democrats would need to flip four seats, and competitive races this year are in states that are more Republican than average.
Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate
Trump changes pregnancy-prevention program to promote childbearing
A federal poverty-fighting program focused on reducing unintended pregnancies is about to undergo a major overhaul.
Reproductive health clinics use Title X federal grant money to provide birth control, cancer screenings and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections to people with little or no health insurance. Title X money cannot be used for abortions.
The Guttmacher Institute estimates that Title X, which was signed into law by Republican President Richard Nixon in 1970, has prevented almost 20 million unintended pregnancies and 9 million abortions. It has also helped reduce child poverty, according to the group, which supports abortion rights.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Kansas Reflector staff will participate in the following free public forums.
6 p.m. June 24, Groover Labs in Wichita. Editor-in-chief Sherman Smith will lead a discussion on the proposed constitutional amendment to elect Kansas Supreme Court justices. Host: Kansas Appleseed. Register here.
6 p.m. June 25, Clint Bowyer Community Building in Emporia. Editor-in-chief Sherman Smith will lead a discussion on the proposed constitutional amendment to elect Kansas Supreme Court justices. Host: Kansas Appleseed. Register here.
7 p.m. June 27, Park City Senior Center. Host: Park City Community Pride.
1 p.m. July 11, South Branch Library in Kansas City, Kansas. Opinion editor Clay Wirestone joins a panel discussion: "Elected vs Appointed: Inform Your Choice." Hosts: Voter Rights Network of Wyandotte County, Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation, the League of Women Voters of Johnson County, and El Centro.
2 p.m. Sept. 27, Red Rocks Visitor Center in Emporia. Host: Red Rocks.
If you're interested in having us talk in your town, email Sherman Smith at [email protected].
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