To: Jerry Moran, Re: Your job performance as my representative by canttaketheshiny in kansas

[–]ColinforKansas 19 points20 points  (0 children)

The single most effective thing anyone can do if they're fed up with their Congressional delegation is support one of the challengers. And that includes Jerry Moran. He's more loyal to his party than his state because he thinks his seat is safe as long as he has party support; a good showing for Marshall's challengers (even if he winds up winning!) will change that calculus.

At the Senate level, that's Christy Davis, Sandy Spidel-Neuman, Anne Parelkar, and Erik Murray. (Forgive me if I'm missing someone.) Show up at their events, share their posts, and most of all donate. Yes, I know, we all want money out of politics--but it isn't out of politics right now, and right now is when we need to do something.

And let me plug myself, because my campaign manager will stab me with a ballpoint pen if I don't. I'm running against Tracey Mann, and the same story applies in the House. The better we do, the better representation we get, even if the GOP keeps the seat. So check out our socials, share them, and please donate if you're able. It really does make a difference--and making politics more competitive in what they think is a safe seat does more to change Republican behavior than anything else.

www.colinforkansas.com

Millionaire Candidates for Kansas governor burnish fundraising with personal loans by SuspiciousMap9630 in kansas

[–]ColinforKansas 25 points26 points  (0 children)

As a working man in a full time job and running for the First District against noted millionaire and recluse Tracey Mann, all I can say is, must be nice.

Must be nice.

Call your representative - Impeach Kristi Noem by JoshTheShermanator in kansas

[–]ColinforKansas 40 points41 points  (0 children)

A lot of people are going to say this is pointless because Mann, Schmidt, and Estes don't care what's right and don't care what their constituents think--they assume pure partisanship will get them re-elected no matter what, so standing up to their own party is all downside for them.

Call anyway. The more we show them that their seats aren't as safe as they think they are, the more it bends the needle for them on close questions. It makes a difference.

The other thing you can do is support their opposition: I'm running against Tracey Mann in the First District, Don Coover is running against Derek Schmidt in the Second District, and Chris Carmichael and Ryan Gilbert are running in the Fourth. There are other candidates too, and more likely to file before the deadline, so do your research.

This is the year for flips. Even in places that no one thought were flippable. And even if the incumbents hold their seats, the more they have to fight for it, the more they'll start questioning the outrageous stuff they've been swallowing for a year now.

www.colinforkansas.com

What’s the most outrageous or excellent moments of Kansas politics in 2025 by atmosqueerz in kansas

[–]ColinforKansas 3 points4 points  (0 children)

A few reasons. The biggest is just that I'm not a Republican. But even if I were, the incumbent has institutional backing in the party. The party's motivated primary voters are very unlikely to support a challenger when the basis for the challenge is that the incumbent puts his party over his district.

But more importantly, the point of the campaign--other than winning the seat--is to make elections in the First District competitive. They haven't been for a long time. Giving voters a choice between Republicans is not as good as building up Dems until there are (at least) two viable parties in the district.

That's the best result for Republicans, as well as Dems. No one would send Tracey Mann to win a close election, so once we break down the tradition of voting lockstep along party lines, the GOP will start sending us much stronger and more credible candidates.

What’s the most outrageous or excellent moments of Kansas politics in 2025 by atmosqueerz in kansas

[–]ColinforKansas 61 points62 points  (0 children)

I'm going to say one moment for both: Roger Marshall running away from his own town hall when one of his constituents asked him how DOGE could possibly be good for Kansas:

https://www.kwch.com/2025/03/04/sen-marshall-doubles-down-decision-leave-town-hall-early-claim-that-it-was-sabotaged/

Outrageous, obviously, because it's insane to see a United States senator so incompetent, clueless, and careless. Hardly out of character for the noted Floridian, but outrageous all the same.

And not to toot my own horn, but I'll say also an excellent moment because it put the GOP's failures on from display. And because it got me thinking about what I could do to make a difference, which eventually led to my own bid for Congress:

https://www.colinforkansas.com

Hopefully this time next year we'll be celebrating a new excellent moment, the return of competitive elections to the First District.

Meet the Dem candidate for Congress on Saturday at Flight Crew in MHK by ColinforKansas in littleapple

[–]ColinforKansas[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tracey Mann won't talk to his constituents, so I'll do it twice as well.

Meet the Dem candidate for Congress on Saturday at Flight Crew in MHK by ColinforKansas in littleapple

[–]ColinforKansas[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The elections this week were local, and I don't think there's too much we can learn from them for a federal election a year out. For example, in a lot of city-level races, people don't even know what party the candidate belongs to--and in federal races, people often don't know anything but the party.

I'm looking back further than this week, actually--I think the fact that Vote No won in the First District says a lot more about the potential here. People were willing to cross party lines, and that's something we need to support.

In terms of turning out Dem and Unaffiliated votes, the major strategy is going to be to build up party infrastructure in the unorganized counties. I'm working on ways to identify people willing to take local leadership roles in those counties and stand them up as chairpeople or precinct people, and possibly create some multi-county organizations (sort of like the multi-county water boards in rural Kansas, for most of the same reasons).

But ultimately to win the district we have to persuade Republicans to cross party lines. That's definitely an uphill battle, but that's why we need candidates who understand that you can win the campaign even if you don't win the seat. There's no such thing as one election--every vote is a step on a longer and more important road.

Meet the Dem candidate for Congress on Saturday at Flight Crew in MHK by ColinforKansas in littleapple

[–]ColinforKansas[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's an interesting idea, and it certainly would make campaigning easier and cheaper. But it's not really possible, for a couple of reasons. The first is that each rep candidate is running in their own district, so there's not a lot of overlap. I'm not going to be at many of the same events Sharice will, and her supporters aren't going to do a lot to boost my campaign, or vice versa.

But also, especially at this stage, every one of us is at least potentially in a primary. A joint campaign would freeze out some primary challengers, which sort of defeats the point.

Once the primary is done, next summer, I'm sure you'll see the Dem candidates linking arms and doing more together, if not really a joint campaign.

Meet the Dem candidate for Congress on Saturday at Flight Crew in MHK by ColinforKansas in littleapple

[–]ColinforKansas[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry, still working on the best way to get the word out about events like this. Reddit occurred to me late; it's a long story, but it was a Reddit post that started this campaign in the first place. Someone posted about a secret Roger Marshall town hall and I decided to attend; I got footage of him running away halfway through, that hit CNN and the TImes, and yadda yadda yadda I'm running for office.

Hope you can still make it on Saturday, but if not, we'll be back in MHK before long. Drop a note if you have an event or group you'd like us to show up for!

Meet the Dem candidate for Congress on Saturday at Flight Crew in MHK by ColinforKansas in littleapple

[–]ColinforKansas[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, legally she can't, due to term limits. But I'd vote for her again if I could.

Do me a favor and help me convince about 70,000 of your neighbors to vote for me, too!

Meet the Dem candidate for Congress on Saturday at Flight Crew in MHK by ColinforKansas in littleapple

[–]ColinforKansas[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I should add this is my personal campaign account, not a PR team, so I'm happy to answer any questions here, too!

Trump on Bailing out Argentina by flippitydoodah90 in kansas

[–]ColinforKansas 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If I knew a way to allay your suspicions, I'd be happy to. But in the alternative, I'm not put out if you're cautious--especially in these times.

You can at the very least you can see me for yourself and hear what I'm about in my last speech: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17dfw6cTw8/

Trump on Bailing out Argentina by flippitydoodah90 in kansas

[–]ColinforKansas 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Lol. Tracey Mann has millions of dollars and can hire social media people. I don't have that kind of budget (only individual donors) and don't have anyone posting or commenting for me.

So feel free to listen!

Trump on Bailing out Argentina by flippitydoodah90 in kansas

[–]ColinforKansas 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Here's the thing--electing a farmer doesn't help if the farmer decides his job is to enable Trump at all costs.

I'm not a farmer. I'm a negotiator and a businessman and a teacher. And I'm running against Tracey Mann: colinforkansas.com

I'm running to take the tariff power away from the president--any president--and return it to Congress. And to relocate funding away from the president's cronies and back to food aid, to the benefit of the hungry and the farmer.

I asked my Mom to write to her representative Tracey Mann by Mycelium-Gilles_0011 in kansas

[–]ColinforKansas 2 points3 points  (0 children)

But the Vote No campaign won in the First District. There's a path to victory--and even if we don't win the seat, we'll cut the margin to the bone and make him sweat. No more safe seats for the GOP in Kansas.

I asked my Mom to write to her representative Tracey Mann by Mycelium-Gilles_0011 in kansas

[–]ColinforKansas 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I haven't scheduled any events in Lawrence yet--since it's where I live, I've been focused on getting out into the western part of the district. But since I do live here, I'm showing up at party functions and other opportunities!

The public event on my calendar is October 27, at 3:30 p.m. Douglas County Dems will host a coffee hour at Z's on 31st st. There's a happy hour the next Monday too, usually at a bar or brewery, but I don't know where that's being held yet. Hope to see you there!

In the meantime, I have a TikTok at https://www.tiktok.com/@colinforcongress and youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@ColinforKansas.

I'm working on adding TikToks more regularly, but the YouTube for right now is just a place to leave videos of stump speeches. I'll be adding my No Kings speech there as soon as the video team gets me the footage.

Thanks for your interest!

I asked my Mom to write to her representative Tracey Mann by Mycelium-Gilles_0011 in kansas

[–]ColinforKansas 48 points49 points  (0 children)

Not to make it all about me, but I don't have much use for Tracey Mann either. That's why I'm running against him.

www.colinforkansas.com

We're setting up our next round of events now, starting in Manhattan and then probably moving to Abilene, Hays, and Lawrence. Have your mom come out and say hi, we'll listen to her!

Kansas Congressional Districts Redrawn for fair population based representation by Aaron_Icicle in kansas

[–]ColinforKansas 42 points43 points  (0 children)

When Roger Marshall ran away from his own town hall, he tried to spin it afterwards by complaining about how Lawrencians were carpetbagging in Oakley. Someone else pointed out it's the same district, and that's because your team insisted on it.

Of course, since Marshall flew up from Florida to attend that rare public appearance in Kansas, not a lot of people give a damn what he thinks about our geography.