Kansas Republican Governor Sam Brownback

After giving Gov. Sam Brownback (R) a free hand to turn Kansas into a science lab for hard-right policy experiments for more than five disastrous years, voters finally yanked the leash Tuesday night. At least 11 separate conservative members of the legislature lost their primaries to more moderate Republicans in the state, with a number of contests still too close to call with confidence.

While the wave won’t unlock the statehouse doors for Democrats, who are dramatically outnumbered in both House and Senate, the primaries signal that voters share the frustration that some Kansas Republicans have begun to voice with Brownback’s unbreakable commitment to trickle-down economic policies that have left Kansas so insolvent it can’t pay for a basic public education system.

The change will be most sweeping in the 40-seat Senate, where there are currently four Republicans for every Democrat. A full quarter of seats there will be filled with a more moderate butt next year. Conservatives lost 10 out of the 16 state […]