Kansas Senator Defects to Democrat Party Over GOP's Anti-Trans Stance

A formerly GOP Kansas State Senator has declared she is now a Democrat due largely to the GOP’s anti-transgender platform.

Barbara Bollier has been a registered Republican for 43 years. She has been in the Kansas Senate since 2017 and represented two different districts in the Kansas House of Representatives between 2010 and 2017.

Bollier has been clashing with Republicans for most, if not all, of her time as a GOP lawmaker, and had recently endorsed several Democratic candidates in the midterm election. While she admits President Trump’s “leadership” (a term she says she “can’t call” his role in our government) is part of what finally pushed her to leave the GOP, another deciding factor was the party’s platform declaration that they “believe God created two genders, male and female.”

“That was my final, last straw,” Bollier said. “I support the people of Kansas. I do not condemn whoever they are.”

Of leaving the GOP, she told the Shawnee Mission Post: “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.”

Her jumping off the sinking Republican ship comes after she had been removed from her committee assignments in direct retaliation for endorsing Democrat Laura Kelly for state governor, and essentially crippled her ability to represent the people of her district the way she intended.

Bollier is up for re-election in 2020 and intends to run, that time, as a Democrat.