Keith Humphrey, the candidate for the Kansas State Senate who was attacked by the state GOP for his adoptee(lite) status, was defeated Tuesday 9622 -8538. Humphrey, a decorated Navy veteran and small business owner, was a solid candidate, endorsed by the Wirtcha Eagle, the Kansas AFL-CIO, District 70 Lodge of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Kansas Families for Education. and other organizations.
Humphrey made the “mistake” of running a clean and positive campaign. The Republican accusation that he was hiding something through his adoptive name change is even more whack considering that Kansas governor, Christian reconstructionist Sam Brownback has adopted two children from China and has claimed publicly that adoption is a pathway to salvation. (I have a video of his prolonged adoption testimony taped at a Call rally in Washington about 10 years ago. It is not available online.) No doubt Brownback’s adoptees got themselves adopted to lead a Maoist takeover of the Kansas statehouse.25 years in the future..
The creepy mailer was not the first personal attack Republicans made on Humphrey this year. In June, four days after Humphrey filed to run for the senate, a Republican operative with ties to the Brownback administration, staked Humphrey’ a 17-year old stepdaughter online and posted a sexually suggestive tweet about her. The tweet was removed , but you can read about the episode and view the screen capture here.
I have no doubt that adopted folks are or will be in the crosshairs of the National Security State and dirty political operatives. No adopted person, either an adoptee lite like Humphrey or a traditional adoptee should be subjected to suspicion and scorn to push a political agenda. Kansas is one of the original free states that have never sealed our birth records. Adoption, contrary to 42 other states, is not an embarrassment, not a shame,. Don’t let the Kansas Republican Party change that.
After the numbers came in Humphrey tweeted , I” don’t feel sad because we came up short – I feel sad because there is so much to make better that won’t happen” I know the feeling..