ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

Election Day for the 2026 midterm elections is less than two weeks away, and the state’s major political parties have been working around the clock engaging with voters throughout the state.

“We have been doing a layered approach, and we have definitely been on the ground talking directly to voters. I've been building up our state party infrastructure since I became the chair, and we now have more organized county parties than we've ever had,” Kansas Democratic Party Chair Jeanna Repass said. “We've also hired a year-round organizer who's working directly with those parties. Starting this past spring, we were putting together a coordinated campaign so even before the primary, we could take all of the candidates who were in the primary who wanted to be part of that process. And then on our social media pages and through our media director, we've been reaching out to media partners and utilizing some paid media. We've definitely been doing a very layered approach to making sure we're getting our message out.”

“We recently finished up on Saturday on a 21-city tour promoting our Republican candidates,” Kansas Republican Party Executive Director Rob Fillion said. “We hit 21 cities and covered roughly 1,300 miles, and had great stops along that tour. We made stops in the western portion of the state, we made stops on the northern portion, in the eastern portion, and in the central portion, and we spent that time letting them know what our message is.”

With this being a major election year, Repass and Fillion said their teams have been keeping extra busy.

“The phrase we have in the office is we are team no sleep, no one is really resting. We are working literally 18-hour days, seven days a week. I've got members of my staff who are probably going on about 21 days straight without having a day off because we are answering any issues that come into the party like how we keep engaging with voters,” Repass said. “We’re on the road, we're doing events, we're supporting candidates. There is literally no time off for the next two weeks, so we’ve been busy, busy, busy.”

“Things are a little bit different, since it's a midterm, and typically in a midterm, whoever has the White House doesn't necessarily do well,” Fillion said. “We've been working like crazy and working like we're running behind, and I think that that'll show Nov. 4.”

Repass and Fillion also offered encouragement for voters to make sure and do research into the candidates running for the various offices.

“This environment is definitely different where we have all of our statewide races up. We have five state board of education races, all of our house races and legislative races. We have several county and municipal races going on, a U.S. Senate race, plus all four congressional races,” Repass said. “That's a lot of candidates, and there's a lot of information coming at people through negative ads and those kind of things, and what we really need to have is people take a look at each candidate for themselves. Do some independent research and don't believe everything you see on TV or in an ad or in a mail piece.”

“I would encourage people to go back for those who have a voting record in the state house and or the state senate and look at how they voted and decide what where your principles are,” Fillion said. “There can be some pretty stark differences, and that's where I would start. Look at those past records and do all the research you can because that can show what a candidate’s true character is.”

The most important thing people can do, either through the current early voting period or Election Day, is actually getting to the polls.

“This is legitimately the most consequential election of this time. We often say ‘This is the most important election,’ and I admit maybe that's become overused. But in 2024, we warned people this current administration on the national level was going to be very harmful, and people didn't believe us,” Repass said. “We currently have tariffs that have been disastrous for Kansas. We had DOGE come in, which also had a direct economic impact in our state – it directly negatively impacted our veterans, directly negatively impacted a lot of federal workers. We also have an unnecessary war in Iran that has driven up diesel prices and gas prices, and therefore food prices. There are also tariffs on our neighbor to the north, which is impacting the ability to get good lumber, which is bad in a housing market where we already don't have enough housing. I'm telling people to vote as though their life and future depends on it.”

“I would suggest people early vote, and I say that because life happens and you might not be able to actually get to the polls on Election Day, so if you have a chunk of time during this early voting cycle when you can get to your polling place, go ahead and get there so your vote is safe and secure and counted,” Fillion said. “In Kansas, we have safe and secure elections, but we know there have been stories of machine malfunctions or some other disaster, so I would definitely encourage everyone to go and get your vote in immediately.”

Repass and Fillion also offered encouragement for people to volunteer and be poll workers.

“The most the most important thing you do as an American is to vote, and one of the highest forms of serving your country outside of the military is to make sure that voting process happens, and we need everyone possible,” Repass said. “You do have to volunteer and get trained and stay there all of Election Day, but what else is more important to do with your day? We also need people to also be poll watchers to make sure no one is being turned away who's eligible to vote, or if they are eligible, that we're able to help them.”

“We need volunteers in those positions more than anything As a state Republican Party, we've hosted different seminars on how to do that, and we've been pushing that wholeheartedly,” Fillion added. “We also encourage everybody possible to be a poll watcher, and we know it takes time out of your day, and the majority of us are hardworking individuals and might not necessarily have time for it, but it is critical to our future.”

Overall, Repass and Fillion said, the next couple weeks will be extremely busy.

“We're being very active on our social media and sharing that out to the county parties so everyone is on the same page,” Repass said. “We are engaging with our counties to make sure they are getting the word out, and we are making sure we are talking to as many voters face to face as possible and canvassing all we can. We're on the countdown, so we are doing all the things we know have to be done.”

“We're making phone calls, we're walking neighborhoods and talking to people,” Fillion said. “We have hundreds of people out there walking and talking to folks who understand what's going on around them, and talking to everyone about the importance of voting. There will definitely not be a lot of slowing down these next couple weeks.”