Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill on Friday accused Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach of “putting his finger on the scales” by disallowing Democratic Senate nominee Chad Taylor to withdraw from the ballot.
McCaskill, an out-of-state Democrat, has come under scrutiny for a conversation she had with Taylor that shortly preceded his decision to attempt to drop out of the Kansas Senate race. Several reports have suggested that McCaskill urged Taylor to withdraw from the ballot, allowing Democrats to rally around independent Greg Orman to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Pat Roberts. Orman has a lead over Roberts in a head-to-head race, according to recent polls.

One day after Taylor announced his withdrawal from the race on Wednesday, Kobach, Kansas’s top election official, ruled Taylor was legally required to stay on the ballot.

Appearing on MSNBC on Friday, McCaskill insinuated that Kobach’s decision was politically motivated. Kobach is a Republican who has endorsed Roberts’ reelection bid.
The Missouri Democrat said the secretary of State’s office had “approved the language” of Taylor’s withdrawal before he submitted.
“And then the next day, the secretary of State — who is on Pat Roberts’s steering committee — says, ‘Well no, the language wasn’t right in the letter.’ I mean, putting his finger on the scales,” the senator said.


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