Linda Olson always does her homework before voting – a trait she inherited from a family invested, and interested, in politics.
asserted
she → do → politics
Her father was a photographer who took portraits of political leaders in Washington, while her grandparents were farmers who cared deeply about their industry.
asserted
who → take → industry
In 2024, Olson’s research led her to Donald Trump.
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research → lead → Trump
She trusted that the then-former president would improve their economic realities in Junction City, Kansas – where she was born and raised – if he returned to the White House.
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he → trust → House
Last winter, Olson was forced to spend $700 on medication while in between insurance plans, and skipped out on doses to stretch it out longer.
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Olson → force → it
“I thought at the time that he was the better choice of what we had,” Olson said of Trump in 2024.
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Olson → think → 2024
Instead, he’s been acting to “make himself richer instead of really helping the people”.
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himself → act → people
With frustrations like these looming large across the state, Kansans this week elected a Democrat, Adam Hamilton, to the US Senate for the first time in nearly a century.
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Kansans → loom → century
It was a stunning upset in what was, until recently, thought to be a reliably red stronghold.
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what → think → ?
“I’ve seen what Roger Marshall did over the eight years or so that he’s been doing this,” said Olson, of the defeated Republican senator.
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Olson → see → senator
“And I thought, it’s time we get fresh blood up there.”
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we → think → blood
Hamilton won, in part, by flipping six counties that backed Trump in 2024 and Marshall in 2020 – a sign that, even in more remote, and traditionally conservative, areas, patience with Trump and the Republican party is wearing thin.
asserted
patience → win → Trump
“Not everybody that voted for Trump is part of this cult of personality that Trump has tried to make the Republican party into,” said Michael Smith, a political science professor at Emporia State University, located in one of those six flipped counties.
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Smith → vote → counties
“There are certainly people in Kansas that are like that: they’re pretty conservative, but they’re not beholden to Trump.
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they → be → Trump
And so I think one of the things this election did is peel off those people.”
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election → think → people
Most of Kansas is made up of farmland, encompassing nearly 45m acres and employing nearly one in five Kansans.
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Most → make → Kansans
Pastures, dotted with grazing cows and their calves, hug the state’s highways.
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Pastures → dot → highways
Junction City is surrounded by its famed toffee-colored prairies, so expansive that untouched grassland stretches out to the horizon on both sides of the interstate.
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grassland → surround → interstate
Kansans who ranch and farm here, in the most rural corners of the state, remain deeply Republican, according to Smith.
uncertain
who → ranch → Smith
But neighboring communities such as Junction City and Emporia, where he teaches, depend heavily on the agricultural economy and have felt the impact of the strains on farmers.
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he → teach → farmers
“The people that live here aren’t actually farmers,” he said.
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he → live → ?
“And they’re more likely to swing over to the other party because the economy is really taking a beating.”
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economy → ’re → beating
David Aguirre, a 25-year-old who was born and raised in Junction City, and works at a Mexican restaurant, El Patron Dos, said that when the rest of the county is suffering, so does his work.
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work → bear → county
“It has, like, a domino effect for families,” he said.
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he → have → families
“If they’re not doing their best, they’re not gonna come out to eat, and then that affects staff, and cooks, and so on.
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that → do → staff
While grocery shopping on Wednesday afternoon, Janet Grimm, who considers herself an independent, lamented her rising bills.
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herself → consider → bills
Everything she picked out from the aisles was tagged with a red and yellow “sale” sticker, a conscious choice she needs to make now.
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she → pick → sticker
Checking out with just a handful of items – eggs, chicken, some deli meat, two cucumbers and powdered sugar for the banana bread she was planning on making later that day – her total rang up to over $60.
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total → check → 60
Grimm voted for Hamilton, and felt hopefully that he would be able to improve the economy for people like her.
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he → vote → her
“I really have faith that they’re going to do good,” she said.
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she → have → good
Hamilton – whose campaign slogan was “leading from the middle” – followed an increasingly reliable playbook in Kansas, Smith suggested, in which candidates position themselves as moderate and distant from the national Democratic party.
uncertain
candidates → lead → party
In his victory speech on Tuesday, Hamilton emphasized to a packed room of supporters that he would seek greater collaboration between parties during his tenure, to “solve problems like it used to be”.
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it → emphasize → problems
“I’m going to tell you a little secret.
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I → go → secret
I want to become Jerry Moran’s best friend,” said Hamilton, referring to the state’s second senator – a Republican.
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Hamilton → want → senator
“For the rest of the United States, in deeply red Kansas, the heart of America, I want us to model what it looks like when thoughtful people actually work together to solve problems, instead of slinging mud at each other.”
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people → want → other
Channeling his years as the pastor of a megachurch, Hamilton recounted the story of the Good Samaritan – in which a Samaritan stopped to help a man who was beaten on his way to the Holy Land – as a way to illustrate the importance of Democrats and Republicans helping out one another.
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Democrats → channel → one
“If Jesus were telling this parable to a room filled with Democrats, he’d say, ‘And there was a Republican who came along and stopped and helped the man,’” said Hamilton.
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Hamilton → tell → man
“If he was talking to a room filled with Republicans, he’d say, ‘And there was a Democrat who came along and stopped.’”
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who → talk → Republicans
Every county in Kansas shifted to vote more Democrat in this year’s Senate race.
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county → shift → race
Still, many areas of the state remain staunchly Republican, and no moderate candidate is likely to change that, said Smith.
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Smith → remain → that
…and 8 more, not listed.
The Aporia
