Democrat Nancy Boyda wants voters in the 2nd District congressional race to know that Republican opponent Derek Schmidt owns a home in both Independence and Lawrence.
Schmidt’s campaign wants people to know he is focused on “issues voters actually care about.”
Boyda issued a statement Sunday accusing Schmidt of pretending to live in Independence, where he has lived and voted for decades, when he and his family actually spend more time at his house in Lawrence.
The issue is relevant because, thanks to GOP-led and court-approved redistricting, Lawrence has been carved out of the 2nd District, which covers much of the eastern quarter of Kansas outside of Johnson County and the Wichita area. But from a legal standpoint, the issue is moot because candidates don’t have to live in the district they represent.
Boyda said Schmidt was using “an archaic technicality” to claim Independence as his home address. And she referenced his narrow defeat to Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly in the 2022 governor’s race, where Schmidt embraced a more conservative platform than he had as a legislator and three-term attorney general.
“Kansas voters aren’t fooled by his attempts to play farmer, just like they weren’t fooled when he tried to play MAGA during the governor’s race. That’s why Laura Kelly beat him,” Boyda said.
Boyda, who emphasized that she lives on a small farm on a gravel road near Baldwin City, where she raises goats and other livestock, said “Kansans deserve a representative who is honest about where they live, who they are and what they stand for.”
Eric Pahls, an adviser to Schmidt, said the Republican has lived in Independence his whole life, like four generations of his family before him. He referenced Boyda’s history of losing her reelection campaign in 2008 after serving one term in the U.S. House, and dropping out of the race for the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat in 2020, and her call for bipartisanship during a recent forum.
“After pretending to call for unity and civility, Nancy Boyda’s long string of political failures will end with her making up a fake story to attack Derek Schmidt’s family,” Pahls said. “It’s not effective — it’s just sad.”
Pahls said Boyda was “desperately” trying to distract voters from her support for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in a district that favored Trump by about 17 points in the 2020 election.
“Derek, on the other hand, is standing tall for the issues voters actually care about,” Pahls said. “In Congress, he’ll fight against the dangerous illegal immigration policies, inflationary overspending, and government overreach that Boyda and Harris’ political party has so proudly championed. And he will put Kansans and their quality of life first – just as he always has.”
The two candidates have agreed to a televised debate on Oct. 25 at KTWU studios on the Washburn University campus in Topeka.
Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.
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Mackenzie Clark/Lawrence Times
