Because I will be damned if I can figure out how Sam Brownback survived that election otherwise.
@EsotericCD @JohnEkdahl @moelane my theory is KS dems blew the gov race when they tried to beat Roberts as it brought in the nat. GOP help
— cjcase (@cjcase) November 9, 2014
Seriously, it is an absolute mystery to me. A happy mystery, but one nonetheless.
Rick Scott won, almost in the same fashion. Florida Democrats wanted to beat him so bad and pass that flawed amendment, that they completely ignored every other race in Florida. Republicans netted FL-26 and flushed away four state Democratic representatives (which gave us a supermajority in the Florida House).
It certainly didn’t hurt Brownback. I think the same dynamic would have played out if Robert’s primary challenger had defeated him too. KS Republican voters needed a reason to go to the polls. Ensuring they had an R senator to take the senate for the GOP was as good as any. Now Brownback’s reforms will get additional time to bear fruit and he’ll be around to reap the rewards if they do.