Government Laura Kelly in Kansas and Kristi Noem in South Dakota are never mistaken for allies.
The two took a dramatically different approach to the COVID-19 pandemic. Democrat Kelly closed schools and businesses and mandated masks until Republicans weakened her administration. Republican Nome left the state open.
But their little commonality caused heartburn at the Kansas Republican state convention on Saturday.
Nome, the party’s rising star and 2024 presidential candidate, was a natural headline speaker for the Republican funding dinner. Then last month she vetoed Republican cultural war agenda priorities — banning transgender athletes from girls’ sports.
The gnome’s veto has aroused criticism from conservatives across the country. She arrived in Manhattan just days after Kelly rejected Kansas’ proposal. This is one of a series of legislation on taxes, elections, and gun rights that have been returned to lawmakers in the last two weeks.
At the pre-supper district and party meetings, the names of the headline speakers were not mentioned. Some said her veto made them question the politicians they had previously seen as a strong voice.
“I will not attend dinner. Brittany Jones, Defender of the Kansas Family Policy Alliance, the driving force behind the passage of the Kansas Sports Bill, said:
Others had a milder reaction.With Attorney General Derek Schmidt, a candidate for governor Former Governor Jeff Colyer Both said they would have signed the Kansas edition, but respecting Nome’s choices, Schmidt said it needed to be organized in South Dakota.
“These are the decisions you need to make as governor, what you are trying to do, and sometimes you will push people back,” Collier said.
Former parliamentary candidate Adrian Valley Jodie Foster She said she still sees the gnome as a powerful leader. “She shows a lot of great courage. There is a shirt that says” Lion, not sheep, “and she is definitely a lion. “
Throughout the convention, legislative leaders promised to revoke Kelly’s veto. Schmidt said he has “the most dangerous pen in Kansas.”
In her speech, Nome immediately called the Democratic governor “confused.” She said she was disappointed with Kelly’s veto and tried to explain her, claiming it was not a veto.
Her “Veto of Style and Form” sought to exempt transgender college athletes from the ban. When the legislature rejected these changes, the bill died and Nome issued a weaker executive order.
“These executive orders have no expiration date,” Nome said. “They will stand until my parliament gives me a bill to protect girls’ sports in the long run.”
South Dakota was one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the United States, but Nome was acclaimed in a conservative circle for resisting calls for closures and mandating masks.
In a speech on Friday, Nome said other governors had exceeded the limits of their authority that her strategy saved the state’s economy and continued to hire people.
“(The other governor) made completely different decisions, and they made those decisions out of fear. They made them for political purposes, and the people in your community paid the price.” Said Nome. “That’s what your governor did, and that’s why she loses her job.”
As the Democrats control all three DC government branches and Kelly controls the governor’s office, Nome presented the governor as an indication of what the alternative was. The alternative was closely in line with the message of Collier and Schmidt, who had already campaigned 14 months before Kansas voted.