Peggy Mast began this morning on the telephone, contacting and congratulating newly elected senators and representatives and preparing for the next session of the Kansas legislature.
Mast, Republican representative from the 76th district, was re-elected Tuesday in a race against Democratic challenger Susan Fowler of Emporia. Fowler could not be reached for comment this morning.
“I think that there was a strong message across the state,” Mast said this morning. “Republicans lost a lot of seats, not just on the national level, but on the state (level) as well. It’s really going to be a challenge to get reorganized.”
Beginning that reorganization was on Mast’s mind today as she talked with yesterday’s winners and thought about responsibilities for incumbents.
“Even without the turnovers we had last night, the upset, there were a lot of freshmen that were going to be coming in,” she said. “I’ll have to go in there and be willing to step up to the plate and take more responsibility because of the experience I have in office. It’s going to be a year of intense learning for new people, and I think that some of the issues that come up are going to be divisive, particularly the gambling.”
Mast said that she believed her campaign escaped the backlash of dissatisfaction among voters because of her commitment to her district and the state, and the work she has invested in her job as representative.
“I don’t think that everyone I represent agrees with me, but I think they respect the fact that I do work hard and try to bring consensus whenever possible,” she said. “...(T)here’s a side of me that loves a challenge. I love the learning. I love the challenge of trying to gain consensus on issues and working with other people that I respect.”
She expects there will be ample challenges for legislators, in addition to the gambling issues.
Mast predicted that stem-cell research also would become a “hard-fought battle” in the next session.
“When you use the stem cells from an individual’s own body to replicate, no one recognizes that as being unethical in any way and it’s made great strides,” she said. “... We worked last year to try to allow umbilical cord cells to be used. It’s the replication and the use of the women’s eggs where we go into some very frightening issues.”
Those issues could be affected by inaccurate or deceitful information disseminated by some special-interest groups that contributed substantial funds to races in Missouri and Kansas, Mast said, and that concerns her.
“We’re seeing some real alarming things that could happen if this goes through,” she said.