Former Gov. Bill Graves Doubles Down on Support for Kansas Democratic Senate Candidate

Evan Vucci / REUTERS A former GOP governor has doubled down on a campaign to persuade Kansas voters to shun Donald Trump’s Senate candidate in the ruby-red state.

Bill Graves, who spent eight years as Kansas’ secretary of state before serving two terms as governor, has thrown his weight behind Democrat Adam Hamilton, the pastor taking on incumbent Sen.

Roger Marshall on Nov.

3.

Trump has backed Marshall.

Graves, 73, said in a Thursday interview with CNN that he knows the move is unorthodox in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1932.

Still, he said Kansans should look past party lines and vote with their gut.

“My point is to reach out to Republicans and unaffiliated voters and make sure they know in our state it’s OK to cross party lines,” he told the network.

“It’s OK to vote Democrat in this Senate race.” “Kansas has a history, as you probably know, of doing some very unusual things politically,” he said.

“We’ve elected Democratic governors over and over again.

And so I don’t put much credence in the whole thing about, well, we haven’t done it for 100 years.

There’s always a first time.” Graves announced his endorsement of Hamilton, 62, in a shock opinion piece for the Kansas City Star last Wednesday.

He slammed Sen.

Marshall as someone who “has turned his back on Kansas,” while the Democratic hopeful “understands what it means to be compassionate in lifting up those in need.” Marshall, a 66-year-old former obstetrician, faces a tough sell on the campaign trail after The New York Times reported last week that, before taking office, he sued more than 700 of his patients over unpaid bills.