ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The next elections might seem somewhat far off to some people, but a newly formed political party is already hard at work preparing.
United Kansas, a new political party launched in 2024, will be kicking off a statewide listening tour to engage Kansans on the future of the state’s politics, with the first event set for Saturday in Liberal. The meeting will be from 10 a.m. to 12 noon at the Rock Island Depot and will aim to spark ideas, conversation and solutions. Special speakers will include Jack Curtis (the United Kansas Chairman), Sally Cauble (a former Kansas State Board of Education member), and Don Hineman (a former Kansas House Majority Leader).
“We want to talk about current events and get citizens' thoughts, and we also want to spread the word about the United Kansas party and let people know we exist,” United Kansas Treasurer Aaron Estabrook said. “We also want to talk about fusion voting, which is where someone can appear on the ballot more than once under two different political parties, and we definitely want to hear from the population and get their thoughts on everything going on. If you're interested in a civil and robust conversation, come and talk to us and let us know what you're thinking.”
Estabrook said it was a rather easy decision to launch in Southwest Kansas, and added he hopes to see a big turnout to Saturday’s town hall.
“I'm actually originally from Garden City, and I know Sally Cauble has a lot of connections in Liberal, and we wanted to be sure Southwest Kansas got a voice and representation, so that's why we decided to start in Southwest Kansas,” Estabrook said. “We're hoping to find a lot of common ground with the people who turn out, and we want to make sure they know their voices are being heard so we can possibly help with a solution. We want to have those conversations about politics without everything turning tense and vitriolic between everyone, and we want to actually want to help launch a constructive dialogue. We don't expect to solve EVERY problem that comes before us, but we're willing to work with everyone, and hopefully that will help us get rolling a bit.”
Estabrook also gave some history on United Kansas.
“United Kansas was born in May 2024, and we collected 35,000 signatures in order to get ballot access and party recognition. We then formed the executive team and nominated candidates for the last election cycle, and we actually had two candidates who tried to use fusion voting, but Secretary of State Kris Kobach denied it since it's banned in Kansas,” Estabrook said. “We then sued the state, so we're currently in litigation around that, and we're working to go to the Kansas Supreme Court to try and re-legalize fusion voting. If we can't do that, we'll be stuck as a third party that could be seen as a spoiler. I'd actually tried to start a moderate party in Kansas about 10 years ago, and I didn't have success getting the necessary signatures. So this time around, I took a different approach and I wanted to get to a point where it was right for a third party. Instead of going after known political influencers, we reached out to people who are civic-minded but didn't necessarily have a political machine behind them. We got some of those people together and asked if they would be willing to be part of the party and help us grow, and that evolved. Sally Cauble has especially been a great source of wisdom through her experience as a politician, and she's helped us make sure we're being bipartisan. We then formed our executive committee and met weekly, and all of that led to our fusion conference, which took place at Washburn University in the law school, and after that conference, we realized we should get more people involved and spread our message more by going to the people.”
The party is still new, Estabrook said, and there is plenty to think about for the future.
“We hope to run candidates in as many districts as possible for 2026. There were 50 districts that were uncontested in 2024, and we'd like to see a big decrease in the number of uncontested races because democracy works the best, and our state works the best, when our government more accurately reflects what the people want,” Estabrook said. “We'd also like to see a statewide candidate for those races to shake things up a bit.”
Overall, Estabrook said, he hopes the people who turn out to Saturday’s event learn a lot.
“I would want to help people realize they have options and their voice is important for the electoral process. People's voices matter, their votes matter, and we can do things to help shape the future of politics in Kansas without necessarily having to do with the national efforts,” Estabrook said. “I hope to see a lot of people at the town hall Saturday, and if anyone has any questions or wants to learn more about United Kansas, they can get in touch with me by phone at (785) 341-7591 or by email at
