A Lifelong Kansan Reflects on the State’s Historic Election Results

Ad Astra per Aspera. My beautiful state’s motto. In the days following this strange Kansas midterm election, this anthem certainly means different things to Kansans across the state. Some see hope on the horizon, and some see just the opposite. There are tears of joy and of sadness from my fellow Kansans, and there is a very loud question ringing out from almost everywhere: “What happened in Kansas last Tuesday night?”

I’ll preface this by admitting I am not a political scholar, do not align with a party unilaterally, and I have voted for candidates from every single party in a span of 35 years. I am a simple Kansan, someone who has spent nearly my whole life in the most rural, most beautiful part of the nation surrounded by amazing human beings. I was raised to pay attention and vote at every opportunity, and it’s been a wild ride watching the political teeter-totter leading to the developing paradigm shift, leaving us a bit stunned.

As we exhale collectively and unpack the last three-plus months in Kansas, I must reflect on the significance of 94 years. That’s the number of years that a Republican has held the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Dr. Roger Marshall. Not since Herbert Hoover was President, Babe Ruth played for the Yankees, Prohibition was the law of Kansas, and the Empire State Building was one year old, has a Democrat held this seat. At the time of this writing, it appears that Kansas will likely seat a Democrat as governor, too. Democrat Cindy Holscher holds a narrow lead as the counting continues.

But why and how did Kansans deliver such a surprise?

I can honestly say that Kansans did not predict their choices would be one of maybe three or four major news stories as the votes rolled in. Most Kansans, including me, felt certain that voters would show up and vote much the same way they always have. I mean Kansans can always be counted on for that, right? We all thought that any television time about our beloved state would show that we continue to be deeply red, and then the news would move on. On the contrary — the opposite happened.

Asking me, this simple Kansan, what I think happened, I’ll say this: We never received answers, from either side to be honest. Bombarded by over-the-top “action movie” like ads that attacked the party’s opponents, there was little room for voices begging for answers to the tough, important questions.

Questions related to the impacts of gas and diesel — especially out here where a huge chunk of farming expense is fuel-related. Can either candidate begin to imagine how hard it is to run a farm or ranch on razor-thin margins when fuel and feed parts costs continue to climb against revenues that decline? How and when will the rural farmer find reprieve, and who heard these questions, because I didn’t hear many answers? Businesses need to know about tariffs — when and how will they end. How does an employee make informed decisions on selecting healthcare benefits each year, knowing that the cut into their paycheck will get deeper yet again, all while everything is costing them more? How will we as Kansans make ends meet?

These pivotal questions needed answers so voters could make informed decisions. Instead, these critical topics were mere whispers against the grossly histrionic foreground noise we have been assaulted with for months. Lost in all this chaos was the Kansan. Standing alone in a tornado of wild attacks between two opponents was the farmer, the teacher, the doctor, the student, the business owner, the local city mayor, the senior citizen. No one was heard over the sound of the dumpster fire ignited by this midterm campaign. Kansans felt like these candidates had forgotten about the families trying to pay their bills, the ranchers sitting in the sale barn praying that their cattle will bring enough this week, the doctors providing healthcare that costs them more than they can collect for it.

I believe Kansans, when standing alone in front of their ballots, had to think hard about who was available to them to answer tough questions. Things seemed to swing away from Roger Marshall after a town hall meeting in March 2025 in Oakley, Kansas, where constituents were seeking answers to these tough questions. This was a difficult meeting for Marshall and town hall participants. In a Kansas Reflector article, author Clay Wirestone wrote: “Facing tough questions from an audience fed up with President Donald Trump’s Department Of Government Efficiency, Marshall left the meeting early. For the rest of 2025 and all this year, he avoided further public events.”

While Senator Marshall was absent for months after that meeting, Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton was out there answering difficult questions. Even in parts of the state that “wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire,” according to a social media comment on Hamilton coming to Hays, Kansas, Hamilton showed up anyway… and I think that hit a chord with so many voters.

Even in very rural Kansas, you can see that what used to be a guaranteed slam dunk is becoming more competitive. It leaves us all wondering how both parties will speak to us in the years to come. We hope the language is relevant and relatable to us. We want our elected leaders to do the business of running our country, and we want to see them and meet with them. In the months before the election, only one of the two candidates was doing that.

I’ll close by saying that I believe with all my heart that a moderate Republican would have swept every single race in Kansas last Tuesday. But the average voter could not peel away the layers of the onion to truly see what either party’s goals were, or what the candidates stood for.

Kansas Republicans needed to stick to what they historically have done so well while campaigning — speak about fiscal conservatism, a small federal footprint, reduced government regulation, free-market capitalism, and lower taxes. Instead, larger-than-life campaign attacks soured voters, and questions remained unanswered.

It’s not unusual to see a party shift in a midterm election in most states, but it’s most unusual in Kansas; it’s 94 years unusual.

Ericka Nicholson was born and raised in rural Kansas.