Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) on Friday said the controversy over the Kansas Senate race ballot is “really not good.”
In an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” McCaskill was asked whether she pressured the Democrat in the race, Chad Taylor, to withdraw, and she didn’t explicitly say she pushed him.
{mosads}“I told him he needed to think about what the outcome could be either way, and to try to think those through. He decided not to pursue it and then he went to the secretary of State’s office and said ‘what do I need to do legally to withdraw?’ she said.
McCaskill said Taylor showed the office the documents he planned to submit to withdraw.
“They said ‘yes, that’s fine, that’ll do it,” McCaskill said the office told Taylor. “It’s really not good.”
On Thursday, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) denied Taylor’s request to be removed from the ballot this November. He said his legal team found Taylor didn’t provide “sufficient evidence he would be incapable of fulfilling the duties of office if elected.”
His decision to withdraw from the race gave Democrats hope there was a chance the independent in the race, Greg Orman, could unseat incumbent Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.).
Kobach serves on Roberts’s Honorary Committee.