Kansas women lawmakers are ditching the GOP

A pair of GOP state lawmakers in Kansas said Wednesday that they will soon switch their party affiliation and register as Democrats.

Sen. Dinah Sykes and Rep. Stephanie Clayton announced their decisions in separate Facebook posts.

Clayton, a lifelong Republican who has served in the Kansas Legislature for the 19th District since 2013, said she will be a Democrat when the House reconvenes next month.

[...]

Sykes, who was elected to the state Senate in 2016, said in a statement that "she ran for the Kansas Senate to protect the Kansas quality of life and to bring common sense to Topeka.

"At this time, I feel like I can either fight to change the Republican party or fight for the state I love and the people I serve," she wrote. "I think I can better serve my state and constituents as a member of the Democratic party."

[...]

Their announcements came about a week after State Sen. Barbara Bollier, who represents Mission Hills in the Kansas City metropolitan area, said she'll be leaving the GOP to become a Democrat.

“Morally, the party is not going where my compass resides,” Bollier said.

Outgoing state Rep. Joy Koesten (R) also announced that she was switching her party affiliation to become a Democrat, according to The Associated Press.

  The Hill

Whatever their public claims of how they're disappointed in the GOP, I'm sure the fact that Republican women rarely get elected to the US Congress is a factor in their decisions. You notice they're not becoming Independents.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The women of the GOP

Over the past year, women across the nation and regardless of ideology have united over their stories experiencing assault, harassment and rape. But on Capitol Hill, female lawmakers are still very much divided along party lines about whom they trust most, the accuser or the accused.

In Kavanaugh’s case, female Democratic lawmakers are siding with the women, including Ford, outraged by Senate Republicans' attempt to jam Kavanuagh’s confirmation through the upper chamber without an investigation of accusations against him. But Republican women on both sides of Capitol are largely backing the party’s decision, sticking by their nominee.

[...]

Some female Republican lawmakers have sought to avoid the issue entirely, caught between their Trump-loving base and female voters who could turn on them. Rep. Martha McSally, a House Republican running for Senate in Arizona whose track coach she said sexually abused her in high school, has issued vague statements about the Kavanaugh matter that avoid taking a position.

[...]

[S]everal Republican women also have concerns about men being smeared by false accusations. And some of them have viewed Kavanaugh's accusers skeptically because of the 11th-hour timing.

They want evidence, as Ernst told one newspaper.

“What we are looking for is the information that is coming forward and then has it been corroborated,” Ernst said, according to the Omaha World-Herald, which also reported that Ernst watched part of Ford's testimony later. “I have no doubt that at some point she experienced some sort of traumatic event."

  Politico

Gotta love that weasel argument. I believe her about everything but the name of the person who assaulted her.

I wonder if they're as blithe about the fact that there are no Republican women on the Senate Judiciary Committee - a committee that deals with much of the most important issues in the country, including who will make it to the Supreme Court.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.