• Kansas House Democrats are launching an 11-stop “Fight Back Tour” across the state, including areas where they’ve lost electoral support.
• Democrats acknowledge the challenge of localizing political discourse in a nationalized environment, aiming to shift focus from Trump to state-level issues.
• The tour targets areas with little to no Democratic representation, seeking to counter negative perceptions and rebuild support for 2026.

Kansas House Democrats are kicking off their statewide “Fight Back Tour” at 6 p.m. May 29 at Compass Point, 800 N. Kansas Ave. in Topeka, in an 11-stop tour that mostly focuses on regions Democrats have fallen out of favor electorally.

Every House Democrat will be featured in at least one stop on the tour. In Topeka, three current Topeka Democrats will be involved, as well as two former representatives, House Minority Leader Brandon Woodard and Gov. Laura Kelly.

Rep. Kirk Haskins, D-Topeka, said he’s viewing the tour as a way to hear from voters as much as it is about sharing a message with them.

“I’m going to focus a lot on learning more from the constituents on what we need to be focusing on. That’s my primary goal,” Haskins said.

As the ranking member of the House Committee on Elections, Haskins said he plans to spend some of his speaking time on updates in election law — specifically Senate Bill 4, which repealed a law allowing the acceptance of mailed ballots three days after Election Day.

He also plans to speak about school funding and workforce development.

Rep. Alexis Simmons, D-Topeka, said her message will be about “the complete and total abuse of power that takes place in the state Legislature.”

“We’re forced to vote on bills that we’ve not had a chance to review because the leadership knows that they’re unpopular, quite honestly, and they don’t want to give the public a chance to speak out against them,” Simmons said.

All politics is national

All politics is local, a longtime truism of American campaigning, no longer seems true with politicians increasingly following the lead of the national news cycle.

Grassroots Democratic opposition in the wake of the 2024 election has largely been focused on the Trump administration. The 50501 Protest movement, a loosely affiliated network of sources primarily organizing through online communities, has largely channeled frustrations about the Trump administration rather than on politicians that are closer to home.

Contentious town halls where Republicans were peppered with tough questions by attendees were usually targeted at members of the U.S. Congress and Senate.

The House Democrats in their tour will try to avoid making the tour about President Trump, but acknowledge the subject is unavoidable when discussing politics.

“We really want to talk about the stuff that people may not have heard about in the news that is going to affect them more directly than all the huge headlines that are coming down from Washington,” said Nicole Norvelle, communications director of the House Democrats.

Explaining the process and responsibilities of state, local and federal politics is half the battle, according to Haskins and Simmons. Haskins said when campaigning, he’s often asked about things like potholes, a local issue or about goings-on at the federal level.

Simmons said conversations about Trump can be brought back to the local level.

“A lot of the things taking place right now in our Legislature, we could fight back on if it were not held by a supermajority that is hyper and blindly loyal to President Trump,” Simmons said.

Campaigning outside of Democratic strongholds

Though three stops of the tour are in areas with Democratic representatives in the House, the remaining eight will be held in areas where there is no current representation in the Kansas House.

“This is our effort to go out across the state and talk to Kansans who don’t normally hear from us, so that they know that we’re gearing up for 2026 to win back seats, and that we’re not going to take what happened this last year lying down,” said Nicole Norvelle, communications director of the Kansas House Democrats.

Norvelle said House Democrats are working with county-level parties to select the right speakers for each community.

In Newton, that means selecting representatives Democrats think will resonate with Bethel College students. In Garden City and Dodge City, that means selecting representatives Democrats think will connect with Hispanic populations.

Countering Democratic unpopularity

Polling after the elections shows Democratic voters are pessimistic about their party, with a Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs poll in May showing just one-third of Democrats are optimistic about their party, down from 6 in 10 in July.

“I think the perception of Democrats has just really altered over the years, I think that’s the general consensus, is people have a new idea of what a Democrat is, which is a very elitist image,” Norvelle said.

Norvelle said House Democrats will focus on issues like health care access, affordable housing, supporting public schools and combating tax cuts for the rich to counter the narrative.

“This is a great starting point to really connect with people and say, ‘Hey, this idea you have of Democrats is not correct. A lot of the policies that were created this year by the Republicans are going to hurt you, your family, your business,’” Norvelle said.

Democrats don’t hold a seat in many of the communities they’re visiting, but it’s not unprecedented for some representation in central and west Kansas.

Hutchinson, which the tour will stop at on June 20, elected former Rep. Jason Probst, D-Hutchinson, as recently as 2022. All House representatives from Leavenworth are Republican, but former Sen. Jeff Pittman, D-Leavenworth, was elected in 2020.

“I think showing that we’re not the big, bad scary libs is a good place to start,” Simmons said. “A lot of these places have historically been held by Democrats, and so the more we can define ourselves as fighters for working class Kansans, the more successful we’re going to be.”

Here are the communities House Democrats will appeal to

Following are the towns and dates at which House Democrats will appear in a statewide “Fight Back Tour.” Times for most appearances haven’t been announced yet.

• Topeka, 6 p.m. May 29.
• Wichita: June 5.
• Newton: June 6.
• Hutchinson: June 20.
• Abilene: June 21.
• Garden City: July 18.
• Dodge City: July 19.
• Pittsburg: July 24.
• Hays: Aug. 15.
• Kansas City, Kansas: Aug. 21.
• Leavenworth: Aug. 28.