Kathleen Sebelius, remember her? Served two terms, or most of two terms, as Governor of Kansas. She started her political life in the Kansas House of Representatives in 1987.
Prior to her was Joan Finney, another Democratic governor of Kansas.
Dennis Moore was a Dem serving the 3rd Congressional District for twelve years.
I ran for the Kansas State House in 2004, and while I lost to a moderate, popular, incumbent Republican, I did well enough that the Democratic party saw that was a winnable race, and the Democrat who ran in 2006 won, then won re-election.
So no, Kansas does not always vote Republican. And yes, the very vast majority of people who vote Republican are voting against their own self-interest. There's also a huge amount of naivete on the part of voters about how party politics actually works. We've seen it here on DU a few election cycles back when people were swooning over the thought that McCain would change parties and be a vice-presidential candidate on the D side. You see it every time you see a woman who believes in any sort of control over her own body but votes R. Or a gay person who does so. Anyone who depends on any sort of help from the government at all who does so. It often comes down to blatant racism coupled with extreme ignorance.
Kansas isn't the only state with Republicans running things and running it into the ground. And now, because the voters in their wisdom gave us a Republican House and Senate, it's going to happen as best they can accomplish it, on a national level. My only hope is that they will make things so bad that enough voters will come to their senses in two years.
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