Kansas state lawmaker who left Republican Party: ‘I don’t have that pit in my stomach’ anymore

A Kansas state lawmaker who switched her party affiliation from Republican to Democrat said Monday that she’s heading into this year’s legislative session with new peace of mind.  

“I don’t have that pit in my stomach,” state Sen. Barbara Bollier, who represents Mission Hills in the Kansas City metropolitan area, told NPR. “That stress of knowing I don’t agree with so many of the policies” brought forward by Republicans.

{mosads}The comment from Bollier came as part of a report on the three state lawmakers who left the Republican Party last year. Bollier, state Sen. Dinah Sykes and state Rep. Stephanie Clayton all announced in December that they would become Democrats. 

Outgoing state Rep. Joy Koesten also announced that she was switching her party affiliation to become a Democrat.

Bollier said in mid-December that she was changing her party affiliation because “morally, the party is not going where my compass resides.”

“I’m looking forward to being in a party that represents the ideals that I do, including Medicaid expansion and funding our K-12 schools,” she said at the time. 

She told NPR that she had reached a breaking point, saying that her policy views on issues such as LGBTQ rights and Medicaid expansion didn’t align with other Republicans in the legislature. Bollier also said she stopped trying to turn the party back in a direction she considered the traditional center. 

“I’ve spent nine years trying to do that and I failed, and I’m not alone. Many people have been trying to do that,” Bollier, who is now the ranking Democrat on the health committee, said to NPR. 

Kansas House Majority Leader Daniel Hawkins (R) appeared untroubled by the party defections. 

“Was she ever really voting with us as a Republican?” he asked NPR when discussing Clayton’s move to the Democratic Party specifically. “I think if you look at her voting record, she’s where she should be.”