Kansas US Senate candidates debate to fill Roberts’ seat

For 35 years Topeka, Kansas, media outlet WIBW has hosted a debate at the Kansas State Fair between the candidates for the year’s headline race. It’s historically the first time the candidates debate one-on-one and typically emphasizes agricultural issues facing Kansans. This year, COVID-19 canceled the annual Kansas State Fair but the debate continued in an online format.

Sept. 19, frontrunners Congressman Roger Marshall, R-KS, and State Sen. Barbara Bollier, D, appeared together in WIBW studios in Topeka, with moderator Greg Akagi, ag director of WIBW Radio and the Kansas Agriculture Network. Media panelists asked questions via teleconferencing. While the atmosphere was much more subdued than the typical in-person event at the state fair due to the lack of supporters filling stands, at times it was no less heated.

Filling Roberts’ shoes

The U.S. Senate race in Kansas will determine who fills the seat of retiring Sen. Pat Roberts, R-KS, who has the distinction of having chaired both the U.S. House Agriculture Committee and the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture through his 40 years in Washington, D.C. The race has grabbed national attention and funding from both parties looking to add to their numbers in the Senate.

When asked about their intentions to represent Kansas farmers on the Senate Ag Committee, Marshall pointed to his endorsements from the Kansas Farm Bureau and Kansas Livestock Association. Marshall also touted his family agricultural connections in Barton County. He brought up the Democratic Party’s emphasis on passing the Green New Deal, saying that it would be the end of Kansas agriculture and the Kansas rural way of life.

Bollier, who served 10 years in the Kansas Senate as a Republican and only recently switched parties, stated that agriculture is a critical part of the state’s economy and identity.

“I’ve been standing with Kansas farmers for over 10 years as a Kansas legislator,” she said. “I helped pass two statewide transportation plans, a 50-year water plan and more funding for rural broadband. I called out the EPA train wreck under President (Barack) Obama, and I urge using sound science policy.” Bollier emphasized that she plans to work across the aisle to find real solutions for agriculture, much in the vein of Sen. Roberts and retired Sen. Bob Dole.

The Green New Deal and climate change was a significant topic in the debate. Marshall said he’s encouraged innovation and conservation programs during his time in Congress. The carbon footprint, he said, is at a 25-year low and is 10% lower today than 10 years ago. He said that is not because of government intervention but because of American innovation.

Bollier responded that she will bring farmers and ranchers to the table to find solutions that work for them.

“This is how we will avoid over-regulations that are unnecessary or burdensome or even harmful to our economy,” she said. “Common sense regulation reform can reduce barriers to competition, lower cost of doing business and bolster private job opportunity and growth.”

Immigration and agricultural labor

Immigration reform is a critical issue not just for Kansas agricultural businesses, but also for agriculture across the nation.

Bollier brought up the Washington gridlock surrounding the situation as the reason for the crisis at our border, and she pledged to work across the aisle to bring a path to citizenship.

“I support secure borders so we can keep our communities safe and a legal solution for Dreamers who were brought to this country through no fault of their own,” she stated. “And a bipartisan reform package that balances national security with the realities of our present circumstances.”

Marshall responded by saying he too believes in secure borders and fixing the broken immigration system.

“The first thing I did when I got to Congress, I sat down with every Democrat member in the House Ag Committee, talked agriculture and their important issues on the broken immigration system,” he said. “And we twice got policy on the floor to fix the situation. But my disappointment is that the Democrats do not want to fix the immigration system. They don’t want to fix DACA. They do not want secure borders. And I just want to remind folks that my opponent left the Republican Party in favor of the Democrats’ values. The Democrats do not want secure borders. They are the party of open borders, sanctuary cities, defund the military and defund the police. And those are just totally out of touch with Kansas values.”

In her rebuttal, Bollier emphasized she believes that party politics must be put aside in Washington for the good of Kansans.

“Nothing is more important in America than keeping our borders safe,” she responded. “And this priority must be reflected by immigration reform, which hasn’t happened yet. And we need this.” The solution will be bipartisan, she added, and she said she can be bipartisan.

Beyond agriculture

The debate also touched on other issues beyond agriculture. Just hours after the announcement of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, the candidates had their first opportunity to respond to filling the seat on the court.

Marshall said that Kansans need senators who will confirm conservative pro-life judges and that he is in favor of the Republican-led Senate and the Republican President Donald Trump bringing forth a name for confirmation now before the election.

Bollier responded by saying that she takes the nomination of a SCOTUS justice seriously and that it shouldn’t be politicized, especially with a lifelong appointment at stake. She said that those elected in November should be allowed to confirm a justice and that both houses have plenty to do to respond to the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic was particularly on the minds of both candidates as both are doctors. Marshall is an OB-GYN and operates a clinic in Great Bend. Bollier is a retired anesthesiologist.

Bollier said the response to the virus “has to be to follow the science” and not politicize the situation. She criticized her opponent’s holding of events of groups of people without masks in place and said it was disappointing that as a doctor he wasn’t following the science.

Marshall said he has been working since February with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the private sector to work on solutions and that he’s hopeful that there will be a vaccine by Thanksgiving. “We’re winning the war against this invisible enemy,” he said.

View the entire debate below.

High Plains Journal Associate Editor Jennifer M. Latzke was one of four media representatives selected to ask questions during the debate.