fire-and-brimstone prayer

Gather round, Kansas Reflector readers, and allow me to tell you all a tale of two prayers.

Both legislative chambers in our fair state begin their daily deliberations with an invocation. On Monday, the Rev. Kyle Lammott offered the following words to the Senate during his prayer:

“In your providence, you have established this nation and this state to be your servant to execute justice, to defend truth, to protect the innocent, and to be a terror to evil.

“Your word declares, ‘Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.’ Lord, we confess and ask your forgiveness. We have called the murder of the unborn good. We have called the mockery of your truth good. We have called injustice toward evil good. We have called the distortion of marriage and gender good. Forgive us, O Lord, and grant repentance for the wicked laws passed in our land.”

According to the Senate journal, the reverend attended as a guest of chamber President Ty Masterson. Lammott serves as lead pastor of Wichita’s Exodus Church. That church counts itself a member of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, or CREC.

By contrast, the Rev. Larry Holmes, House chaplain, offered these throughts  before Wednesday’s session:

“Your word says, ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.’ At times, this can be difficult, especially when our personal values conflict with others. Help us strive to be on the side of what is best for the good people of Kansas. …

“Amidst the chaos and confusion gripping parts of our Nation, I ask for the peace of almighty God to prevail. Allow stability and civility to be exercised by all struggling with frustration and anxiety.”

You might recall that House members went through a six-hour debate on the anti-trans House Substitute for Senate Bill 244 on Wednesday. The House chaplain tried to bring lawmakers together, rather than separate them. That’s worthy of note as the session heads into its fourth week.

Uncomfortable freedom

The confrontation Tuesday between abortion abolitionists and members of the Satanic Grotto brought an uncomfortable truth to the fore. Free speech doesn’t always feel great.

The anti-abortion protesters held signs calling for a total and complete ban on the medical procedure. A few carried graphic images of aborted fetuses. Meanwhile, a member of the Satanic Grotto flung catcalls across the Statehouse rotunda. She mocked the protesters for retreating from the second floor to the third and used abundant profanity.

Numerous Capitol Police surrounded the Satanic Grotto protesters, likely for their own safety. As I walked around the third floor, I heard one person tell another that this was the First Amendment in action. They were right. As vehement as the two sides were, in their way, each expressed constitutionally protected opinions in a nonviolent way.

That’s a win for all of us. Right?

The great sifting

Kansas Reflector journalists cover a bunch of bill hearings in the early part of the session. Some of those bills can sound outrageous. Take House Bill 2493, which would undermine advance voting. It was considered in Rep. Pat Proctor’s House Elections Committee even though no one testified in favor of it.

Keep in mind, however, that HB 2493 won’t necessarily make it to the House or Senate floor. The same goes for dozens of other bills in each chamber, helpful and harmful alike.

House and Senate leadership prioritize some legislation. That’s why the anti-trans bill last week made it through both chambers so speedily. But that’s a short list. Sometimes committees decide against sending bills to the full chambers. Sometimes chamber leaders decide against taking up the bills. Sometimes the bills pass one chamber but aren’t taken up by the other. Sometimes they pass both chambers, but Gov. Kelly vetoes them and lawmakers can’t override her.

The point is, we don’t know where everything will land until the session ends.

Sudden ruthlessness

Last week, I mentioned that this session seemed friendlier and lower key than last year.

Scratch that. The brutal passage of anti-trans legislation by Senate and House Republicans on Wednesday showed that the same dark forces motivating recent sessions are alive and well. You could define those forces in different ways: a lust for power, animus toward a minority group, lockstep ideological conformity.

Whatever the case, GOP leaders scored a clean, efficient win. They showed LGBTQ+ Kansans that they wouldn’t be swayed by their arguments — or even bother to listen. What this means for the rest of the 2026 session we can only speculate. But I wouldn’t feel great about it.

Disappearing moderates

I’ve charted the decline of moderate Kansas Republicans for a few years now, but Wednesday’s vote totals proved a fresh reminder of how that wing of the part has been almost entirely disempowered in Topeka. Of the 88 Republicans in the House and 31 in the Senate, only one voted against the anti-trans bill. That would be Rep. Mark Schreiber of Emporia.

In past sessions, Schreiber was usually joined by one or two other Republicans sticking their necks out on a civil rights issue. Not this time. Not in this session. Never mind that House Speaker Dan Hawkins will be gone next year, given his race for state insurance commissioner. Never mind that Schreiber’s continued electoral success proves that pro-LGBTQ+ Republicans can win races.

Moderates’ hopes these days, such as they are, rest with current Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt in her race for governor. Unfortunately, Schmidt didn’t show up for the GOP gubernatorial debate Friday in protest of a $10,000 fee required to participate.

Yeesh.

Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.