Gov. Kelly calls for Kansas unity and civility. Can she meet Republicans in the middle?

During her re-election campaign for governor, Gov. Laura Kelly pledged her bipartisan credentials from the middle of a road in Auburn in a now infamous campaign ad.

On Monday she touted a similar message, only this time it came from a dais on the south steps of the Statehouse, moments after being sworn in for a second term.

Kelly's inaugural address focused on engendering unity and civility in a time of political hostility, calling on public officials to tone down inflammatory rhetoric and meet her in the middle of a more metaphorical road than the one displayed during the campaign ads.

The weather at the Statehouse for Kelly's swearing-in was unseasonably warm, a far cry from the arctic blast that accompanied her first inaugural and sent attendees scrambling for hand warmers.

"Today, four years later, it’s warm and sunny," Kelly quipped at the beginning of her speech. "And so is the future of Kansas."

But the temperature during the 2023 legislative session will likely be much hotter than a 50-degree January afternoon and less than unified with the governor's vision for Kansas.

Republicans maintained their supermajority control of the Legislature, meaning they still have latitude to brush aside Kelly's veto pen as they see fit. Other top priorities for the governor, such as an immediate reduction to the food sales tax and Medicaid expansion, are likely to be a nonstarter for conservatives.

Whether Kelly overcomes those obstacles to burnish her image as a dealmaker, however, remains to be seen.

But from her inaugural address Monday, it was clear that the same themes that permeated her re-election and which have long shaped Kelly's public image will remain in her second term.

"We’re often told that there's 'a fork in the road' … and you have to make a choice — you can either go right or you can go left," Kelly said. "I believe that is a false choice. I believe the best choice is right down the middle of that road."

More:What will Laura Kelly's next four years look like as Kansas governor?

Kelly calls for bipartisanship, civility

In her speech, Kelly did not dwell extensively on her history-making win in November, when she became the first candidate in decades of Kansas history to win the governor's mansion in a midterm election where her party controlled the White House.

Nor did she outline a specific policy platform for a second term, though she was quick to trumpet some of her most cherished policy victories from her first term, including the arrival of a Panasonic electric vehicle battery plant in DeSoto, increases to education funding and tax relief.

Her swearing in is instead a prelude to a busy week, where she will make her fifth state of the state speech and unveil her budget proposal, that will lay down a legislative agenda expected to build upon the more abstract ideals espoused in her inaugural address.

Kelly's speech recalled the trials and tribulations of the COVID-19 pandemic, dwelling on the unity in the early days of the virus' spread but ruing the increased divisiveness that occurred in its wake.

"We cannot let the hostility and anger that has poisoned our national politics spread here to Kansas," Kelly said. "A politics where disagreements turn into violence. Where political points are scored by knocking someone else down, rather than lifting people up. Where facts give way to baseless conspiracies."

Throughout her first term, Kelly often promoted her ability to buck her own party, even when it can frustrate more liberal members of her own party.

That was on full display when Kelly last year signed a bill banning sanctuary cities in Kansas and it even extended to the campaign, when some were dismayed that abortion rights was not a bigger part of Kelly's platform.

But Kansas, Kelly argued in her speech, has long been a place where individuals find common ground to move the state forward, pointing to everything from the 1859 Wyandotte Constitution that gave women the right to vote and communities rallying after countless tornadoes.

She called on elected officials to follow that lead.

"We should all agree now is the time to turn down the volume," Kelly said. "This hate, this vitriol, this divisiveness, it’s not who we are as Kansans. The people of Kansas are civil. Its elected leaders must also be civil. In the tone of our discourse and in the manner in which we govern."

More:Kris Kobach's comeback is complete. What's next for the Kansas attorney general office?

Republicans pledge bipartisanship

The 2022 election also left a new set of dynamics for Kelly. She is now the lone Democrat in statewide office in Kansas after former Treasurer Lynn Rogers lost to Republican Steven Johnson, who also was sworn in Monday.

Attorney General Kris Kobach will also be across the street in the attorney general's office, ushering in a new and potentially impactful relationship.

Kobach, who is expected to take the office in a more activist direction, has said he is hopeful for a constructive dialogue with the Kelly administration but also said that if the governor engaged in executive overreach "we could find ourselves in an adversarial situation."

The November elections likely brought a more conservative group of legislative Republicans, after primary defeats for past Kelly allies on blocking a ban on transgender athletes in girls and women's sports and a so-called parents' bill of rights.

More:Kansas should expect a more conservative Legislature, new House GOP leader says

House Speaker Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, has already said the zeal of Republican legislators to override Kelly's vetoes has not gone away and indicated Republicans would be less than agreeable with the underlying assumption of Kelly's inaugural address.

"I've never thought she led from the middle of the road," Hawkins told reporters after being elected speaker late last year. "I wouldn't say that at all."

But Hawkins tempered his comments Monday when the Legislature met for the start of the 2023 session.

"Today is not the day for political speeches, there'll be plenty of time for disagreements and debates in the coming months," he said.

"My pledge is to create an environment in the House where we can work together and find those solutions," Hawkins said, referencing economic challenges, water issues and the troubled foster care system. "We will work across the aisle when we can. We will disagree strongly, but respectfully, when we must."

Hawkins was joined by Speaker Pro Tempore Blake Carpenter, R-Derby, and House Majority Leader Chris Croft, R-Overland Park, in echoing Kelly's calls for civility and bipartisanship.

"We cannot let our disagreements tear down our bonds as Kansans," Carpenter said, urging his colleagues to "exchange kind words" after a day of conflict.

"We are one team focused on securing our way of life now and in the future," Croft said. "We are ready to get to work for you; one team."

Minority Leader Vic Miller, D-Topeka, urged fellow Democrats to not be deterred from advocating for their constituents when "the numbers we are up against seem overwhelming." He likewise said he hopes legislators can become friends despite being "worthy adversaries" on policy disagreements.

Can Kelly find compromise with Republicans?

Bob Beatty, professor of political science at Washburn University, said it was not a done deal that the changing political environment in Kansas would spell doom for Kelly's priorities.

As a veteran of the Kansas Senate, he said, Kelly is well-versed in the realities of negotiating with Republicans.

"People may not like it, but it's a fact of life that Republicans aren't going to want Kelly to get too much credit for anything," Beatty said. "So, she has to swallow her ego and work to do a lot of things behind the scenes in a way."

There are already signs that Republicans are hesitant to work with the governor on her top priorities. Maneuvering among committee chairs has left the prospect of legalizing medical marijuana in doubt and Kelly's top tax priority — the immediate elimination of the food sales tax — has drawn a tepid response from Republicans.

Still, Beatty said there was possible room for agreement. Republican legislators have long desired to cut or even effectively eliminate taxes on retirement income, and Kelly has said she wants to at least expand the number of Kansans who have their Social Security benefits taxed.

"It'd be criminal if the governor and the legislature can't get together for some commonsense tax cuts," he said.

Speaking Sunday night at the inaugural ball Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, struck a more optimistic note.

In recalling his days of working with Kelly on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, Masterson praised "an authentically positive and warm working relationship."

At the end, however, he wound up evoking one of Kelly's-now signature lines, signaling that perhaps there is common ground to be found in Kansas' current political environment — even if it is only rhetorical, for the time being.

"To meeting in the middle of the road," Masterson said in concluding his toast.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly starts second term, promises to work with GOP