8/24/20
In the heartland state of Kansas, long seen as deep-red territory where Democrats rarely have a shot at winning key elections, hope is beginning to stir that the party could pull off an unlikely win in a crucial Senate seat. The state senator Barbara Bollier, a former Republican and physician, is the vehicle for these ambitions – which if they came off could decide whether the party grabs overall control of the US Senate in January. Bollier has proved to be a formidable fundraiser and, in an interview with the Guardian, described how she plans to attract independents and Republicans in Kansas in the general election against an establishment Republican candidate, the US congressman Roger Marshall. “What I want to highlight is the fact that as a physician, as a current legislator, I am an independent voice and work hard to listen to the people and bring their ideas and needs forward in a bipartisan fashion, cooperating and working together,” Bollier said in an interview with the Guardian.
Bollier left the Republican party in 2018. She said she had grown dissatisfied with the party’s opposition to Medicaid expansion and record on balancing budgets. “They were not following public education,” Bollier said, adding that the then Republican Kansas governor, Sam Brownback, “put in a horrific tax plan that broke and caused us to have to borrow money to meet our bills. That is not a traditional Republican value, borrowing money. And at a point you realize: ‘I can best represent our people following the values that they want as a Democrat.’” Polling generally shows Marshall leading Bollier by single digits. Democrats often point to the cash advantage Bollier had entering the general election – over $4m to Marshall’s $600,000. When asked if she thought her chances of winning the seat had shrunk when Marshall beat Kobach, Bollier pushed back and pointed to Medicaid expansion. “This state desperately wants and needs Medicaid expansion and healthcare access. And every one of them stood against it, including Roger Marshall. He still does. And has tried to end the Affordable Care Act in the middle of a pandemic,” Bollier said.