Kansas Republicans grapple with low fundraising, infighting ahead of party meeting

After months of low fundraising and infighting over diversity, Kansas Republican Party leaders will meet Saturday to vote on party rules and plan for next year’s presidential primary.

The meeting in Paola is the first time the party will meet since Mike Brown, a former Johnson County commissioner whose failed run for secretary of state highlighted election conspiracies, became the state chairman.

In 2024 Republicans will need to defend their supermajorities in the Kansas House and Senate while attempting to oust three-term Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids from the 3rd Congressional District. That will require holding onto seats and regaining support in Johnson County, a part of the state that has rapidly shifted to Democrats in the last seven years as the Republican Party has moved to the right.

Saturday’s meeting will be a key signal of whether the party can recover from months of turmoil in time for those races.

As of August, the party had raised $45,659 in 2023, ahead of next year’s presidential election. That number is roughly $13,000 less than the party raised in the same amount of time in 2019, a year before the previous presidential election, according to Federal Election Commission reports.

Meanwhile, Republicans have publicly fought over a proposal to remove groups representing Black, Hispanic, female and young Republicans from major party leadership committees.

“There is irreparable damage that has been done and it’s because of the lack of leadership from our state chair,” said Ben Sauceda, who leads the National Republican Hispanic Assembly of Kansas.

Brown did not respond to questions from The Star Wednesday and Thursday.

Heading into 2024, Republican lawmakers in Kansas are downplaying the state party’s importance.

“The party’s real value is developing a platform, a political platform so voters know generally what you believe about,” Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, told reporters last week. “I would admit there’s some turmoil inside the party and that will play out … that doesn’t really affect what we do.”

Asked whether the party could resolve its issues before the 2024 election, House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, shrugged, “Who knows?”

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said the national Republican Party was well positioned for 2024. He showed less optimism about Kansas.

“The issues are slightly different,” Kobach, a former party chair whose tenure was also marked by controversy and fundraising challenges, said. “I don’t think the Kansas Republican Party is in trouble by any stretch and I expect that we will maintain our supermajorities in both houses but of course you have a different mix of issues that don’t necessarily rise to the national news media’s attention.”

State Sen. Mike Thompson, a Shawnee Republican, said he was hopeful the party could come together before the election cycle heated up.

“I know there’s some personality conflicts, things of that nature,” Thompson said. “That happens. Especially when you have a change of leadership at the top.”

The largest focal point of criticism toward Brown has been his refusal to denounce a proposed rule change that would have kicked elected officials and organizations representing minority, women and youth groups from state party leadership.

The party’s rules committee proposed the change earlier this year that would remove elected leaders and representatives of groups representing racial minorities, women and youth from the state executive committee and party state committee – which play key roles in determining the platform and direction of the Kansas GOP.

While Brown never spoke directly in favor of or against the move it was broadly seen as a change that would consolidate his power by limiting the voices of those who had opposed him during his leadership race.

After the proposal earned swift condemnation from Republicans in Kansas and nationwide, Brown urged the committee to reconsider the proposal. The committee did not rescind it.

While the Kansas GOP’s fundraising has suffered, the Kansas Black Republican Council, who has been critical of Brown’s leadership, raised $30,000 in a single event last week. In a press release, the council said that figure was more than triple their balance at the start of 2023.

“KBRC’s impressive fundraising reflects the unity of the Kansas Republican Party, from elected officials to small businesses to grassroots activists,” Michael Austin, the chair of the KBRC said in a statement.

In the lead-up to the meeting activists who support and oppose the proposal have said they expect it to come up over the weekend.

In an email to other party members, Glen Burdue, a member of the rules committee and Sumner County GOP chair, argued the minority group representatives and elected officials should be removed from party leadership because they were not elected by party membership. He framed it as a battle between grassroots party members and the establishment.

“Many believe the Republican Party has a history of and still provides a platform for all people to rise to the top in the party based on their character and hard work regardless of their sex or race, and they don’t necessarily need extra help or additional votes for their organizations outside the KSGOP,” Burdue said.

Reached by The Star, Burdue declined to expand on his email but said he believed Kansas was part of a movement in state parties for conservatives to regain control of the party.

Dakotah Parshall, the executive director of the Kansas GOP, told The Star that party rules would block a discussion of the proposal even if someone sought to bring it up.

Even if the rules come up, Ben Sauceda, who leads the Republican National Hispanic Assembly of Kansas, said he doubted enough votes existed to remove representation from the leadership posts.

Sauceda, however, said he is still worried about the direction of the party. Rather than stick to true conservative principles, Sauceda said, the party was leaning into populist ideals and catering to a small section of the party that refuses to acknowledge the legitimacy of elections.

Continuing to do this, he said, will hurt Republicans as party infrastructure is already failing.

“I would be ignorant if I said that ‘24 might not hurt some,” Sauceda said. “I also don’t believe that placating in order to gain favor with a certain group that is causing the problem helps solve the problem.”