'I do not feel safe': Red state statehouse overflows with anger, confrontation and confusion

Well, that was alarming.

A representative-on-representative confrontation in the Kansas House led to suspension of business, a private caucus among Democrats and precious little clarity about what happened. In short, Republican Nick Hoheisel apparently had words with Democrat Ford Carr. Both men are from Wichita.

During the caucus, Carr suggested that Hoheisel might have been carrying a firearm: “He got up, he came over to me, and he made attacks. I can’t honestly see how someone of his stature would feel comfortable making those kind of attacks at me unless, of course, he feels like he has some sort of an equalizer.”

Hoheisel snapped back via text to Kansas Reflector editor Sherman Smith: “I’m not going to dignify any of those false and outlandish allegations with a response.”

The House stopped debate on a bill and both sides licked their wounds for a couple of hours. House Speaker Dan Hawkins and Minority Leader Brandon Woodard issued a rare joint statement meant to deescalate tensions.

Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat, sounded an ominous note after the entire affair.

“In the longer term,” he said, “leadership is going to have to have long conversations with some of their members.”

Carmichael added: “I do not feel safe on the floor under these circumstances. This situation with immature hotheads with guns on the floor needs to end.”

Recall where we were just last week. Republican Reps. Patrick Penn and Kyler Sweely were joking on the House floor about shooting former Democratic Rep. Jason Probst. Not a single Republican objected.

Can leadership really be so surprised to see tensions ratcheted up from bad to worse? They have given this fire of tensions more and more oxygen, targeted members of the news media with repeated lies and barriers to doing their work. A small band of GOP lawmakers have treated anyone even asking questions as dangerous threats. Read Probst on the subject, if you have a moment.

This could all lead to a dark place, and soon.

Compressed schedule

In late January, Rep. Suzanne Wikle noted the Legislature’s short schedule during an interview. At the time, I wondered if this had anything to do with leaving Gov. Laura Kelly holding the bag if final revenue estimates came in below expectations.

I still don’t know if that’s the case. But we do have more clarity about the shortened schedule: It’s real and pressing. The turnaround deadline was Thursday. That means each chamber finished work on its own bills before sending them to the other chamber.

I’ve written before that turnaround is an illusion; leaders deploy it as a tool to kill bills they don’t like while blessing their favored legislation whenever they choose. Regardless, it came two days earlier this year than last.

First adjournment is set for March 28, with a veto session penciled in for April 10. Last year, first adjournment was April 5 and the veto session began April 29.

This adds to the stress and unhappiness suffusing Statehouse halls. Lawmakers are being asked to plunge through legislation to meet earlier deadlines — and for what?

We still don’t know.

A protest sign rests next to chair at a labor rally on Jan. 14, 2025, at the Statehouse. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

Whimsy and wonder

Look, I try to keep these roundups as light as possible. They hit Kansas Reflector’s website and email inboxes Saturday mornings. I want to start your weekend off with a chuckle or two, or at least an amused eye roll.

This week, though? I don’t know about this week. The whole affair felt progressively grim and grimmer, as temperatures stayed below zero and lawmakers ground through votes on dozens of bills. Medicaid expansion proposals fell flat. So did an attempt to crack open the door on medical marijuana legalization. We know Kansans support these proposals; they’ve told pollsters so for years.

But leadership doesn’t care. Their members don’t care. They pass bills that bully and harass children and people who are different from themselves, then pat themselves on the back.

It’s not funny. It’s gut-wrenching.

Dispatch from Hutch

You know who else has watched this session with amazement and despair? The good folk of Hutchison, approximately 60 of whom braved the incoming storm on Monday evening to see Reflector reporter Anna Kaminski, editor Sherman Smith and yours truly at the community college. (Thanks to the Hutchinson Area Chapter of Women for Kansas for sponsoring our appearance.)

They had a bunch of questions about legislative deadlines, Hawkins’ restrictions on journalists, Sweely and our current political climate.

Smith and I visited Hutchinson two years ago for a similar town hall. What I noticed this time around was a decidedly different tone from those in attendance. In 2023, they sounded curious and a bit plaintive. This time around, they sounded angry. They wanted answers from their elected representatives. They wanted action in Topeka. And they wanted those of us at the Reflector to do do our work even more aggressively.

You can count on that.

I’m just asking

More questions that came to mind after this week.

GOP Rep. Pat Proctor branded me a “liar” on Twitter over the weekend (don’t worry, I’ll survive). But what does that make Proctor?What’s up with the delay in introducing some sort of legalized cannabis in this state? How many members of the Legislature imbibe regularly yet still oppose bills that would bring in a bunch of money?Rep. Steven Howe made stirring points Thursday about special education funding. Does his refusal to offer an amendment adding that funding remind you of his decision to endorse Donald Trump for president last year — after begging Republicans to consider alternatives? If Washington, D.C., lawmakers end up slashing Medicaid funding, will Kansas Republicans look wise for forgoing expansion all these years? House Speaker Dan Hawkins confers in House chambers on Jan. 23, 2025.

Ban in place

It wouldn’t be a weekly installment of this column in 2025 without mentioning that House Speaker Dan Hawkins continues to bar journalists from their traditional space on the House floor. They have been banished from the press box and sent to report from the balcony, all the better to keep them away from altercations like the one we saw Thursday afternoon.

With the news out of Mississippi, where a newspaper was ordered in flagrant violation of the First Amendment to take down an editorial, Hawkins still has an opportunity to stand up for free speech. He could do it any time, any day.

Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.