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Kansas Legislature changes as more Democrats win

Posted at 6:00 PM, Nov 09, 2016
and last updated 2016-11-09 19:17:07-05

Kansas voters ushered in a new legislative makeup in Topeka Tuesday night.

What was a 97-28 Republican house majority now looks to be 85-40, a net gain of 12 seats for Democrats.

But what is an equal sign of changes ahead, roughly a dozen Republican seats went from conservative to moderate.

“This is a sea change. This is a new day in Topeka, and very much a repudiation of Governor Sam Brownback’s policies,” said KCUR host and Kansas City Star political reporter Steve Kraske.

The change could mean that Brownback will find opposition to some, if not many of his policy proposals moving forward.

“Whatever conservative Republicans have wanted the last 5 or 6 years they’ve been able to do, but that changes now. Between the new Democrats who’ve been elected and moderate Republicans who are moving on. They form a coalition now. There’s enough votes there in the State House to block conservative initiatives. So it’s a new day,” said Kraske.

What voters can expect are new discussions and policy proposals on a wide range of topics, from Brownback’s highly unpopular LLC tax cuts to Medicaid expansion.

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District 20’s newest lawmaker, moderate Republican Jan Kessinger, says working with Brownback will be difficult and likely take the Legislature into extra days, but hopes voters will see an effort to get Kansas back on track.

“I think it will be like watching sausage being made. It’s going to be very messy, but what we want to be able to do is get the state growing in revenue, cut expenses where necessary but also investing in things like education and infrastructure,” said Kessinger.

Governor Brownback Wednesday morning dismissed the idea that the election was a referendum on him and his policies, saying the blame lies with a sluggish economy.

The new Legislature meets in Topeka for the first time in December before the start of the session in January.

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Brian Abel can be reached at brian.abel@kshb.com. 

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