19-year-old Fmr. Candidate for KS Governor may have just won a State House seat

[Epaminondas]

God I'm just disgusted at all the people here either defending this monster or saying this doesn't matter.  Do you realise how creepy and weird you guys are looking defending this.

Your answer is surprising too.

You have never heard directly from the boy, you have no idea who he is in real life, he will never represent you personally, but hearsay is enough for you and thousands of Democrats to hound him online.

This prissy attitude is what makes American politics so destructive and poisonous.
If any mistake is disqualifying, and no mitigating circumstances allowed - such as being 14, my goodness, how proud are you of you 14-year old self? - then everything in politics becomes about spin, PR and deflection.

No wonder such an electoral environement attracts so many sociopaths.

[LtNOWIS]

God I'm just disgusted at all the people here either defending this monster or saying this doesn't matter.  Do you realise how creepy and weird you guys are looking defending this.

Your answer is surprising too.

You have never heard directly from the boy, you have no idea who he is in real life, he will never represent you personally, but hearsay is enough for you and thousands of Democrats to hound him online.

This prissy attitude is what makes American politics so destructive and poisonous.
If any mistake is disqualifying, and no mitigating circumstances allowed - such as being 14, my goodness, how proud are you of you 14-year old self? - then everything in politics becomes about spin, PR and deflection.

No wonder such an electoral environement attracts so many sociopaths.

If by "hearsay" you mean "widely agreed upon facts that nobody was denying."

We're all reading the same newspapers as anyone else. People in this thread probably have as good a read on this story as the average voter in the Kansas City metro area. Similarly, I've never met Trump, and I've never met my two Senators, but I have a pretty good read on them from following the news, looking at their statements, and looking at other sources of information online and in broadcast media.

Also the idea that "you're not willing to forgive this guy in this case, therefore you'll never forgive anyone over anything!" doesn't track. Plenty of people are willing to consider mitigating circumstances. But the biggest mitigating circumstances would be atonement and time passed. Even if you accept the sincerity/quality of his apology, there just wasn't enough time gone by.

[new_patomic]

Its funny to see some people trying to use the argument that this is ridiculous because it means every mistake or imperfection by someone in their teens is now disqualifying.

When like, no, we're literally talking about revenge porn and him literally blackmailing someone with their nudes. If you think all 14 year olds are a step removed from doing that then it might be you who has misconceptions of youth.

[JerryArkansas]

God I'm just disgusted at all the people here either defending this monster or saying this doesn't matter.  Do you realise how creepy and weird you guys are looking defending this.

Your answer is surprising too.

You have never heard directly from the boy, you have no idea who he is in real life, he will never represent you personally, but hearsay is enough for you and thousands of Democrats to hound him online.

This prissy attitude is what makes American politics so destructive and poisonous.
If any mistake is disqualifying, and no mitigating circumstances allowed - such as being 14, my goodness, how proud are you of you 14-year old self? - then everything in politics becomes about spin, PR and deflection.

No wonder such an electoral environement attracts so many sociopaths.

I didn't force someone to nearly kill themselves and both post underage pics and hound for them before I was 15.  So I'll say that I'm somewhat of a better person than him.  Like Jesus look at who you're defending here.

Also he admitted to doing so how in the hell is it hersay?

[new_patomic]

https://twitter.com/TheMominatrixx/status/1297568497602625536?s=20

lol

[Beet]

I don't think the guy's "mistakes" at 14 are necessarily permanently disqualifying. People do make mistakes, even very awful ones. I'm not against anyone coming back from them. America is a place of second chances, and that's a wonderful thing.

But nor do I think his victims, who are entirely innocent in this matter, should have to be re-traumatized or re-victimized by him holding a highly public position of power. And that is exactly what it would be, based on what they have said. That's the real problem here. It's not hard to see why the idea of someone so abusive serving in an elected lawmaking body would be disturbing to the victims, and to all victims.

I would suggest the guy step down, reach out to the people he caused harm to, and try to make a sincere restitution before seeking public office again if that he what he wants to do. If his victims come out and say later they believe he has changed, then the rest of society should too-- and if they don't that's fine too. Then we all dodged a bullet by keeping someone who doesn't respect women out of office. Frankly, it doesn't sound like he's changed.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

So, which of the little bastards here is he? Own up.

[Interlocutor is just not there yet]

I've seen posts about how Coleman's comments demeanor/comments didn't come out sooner, but how did Frownfelter lose?

Low turnout? Not well-liked in his district? Too moderate or left-wing? Lack of campaigning due to assuming he had the race in the bag? I really don't understand how he bungled this as bad as he did

[Continential]

I've seen posts about how Coleman's comments demeanor/comments didn't come out sooner, but how did Frownfelter lose?

Low turnout? Not well-liked in his district? Too moderate or left-wing? Lack of campaigning due to assuming he had the race in the bag? I really don't understand how he bungled this as bad as he did

This

[Lambsbread]

https://twitter.com/TheMominatrixx/status/1297568497602625536?s=20

lol

I have never seen one person dunk on themselves so hard in such a short amount of time. Unbelievable.

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

All of this is truly surreal.

I definitely should have waited saying this.

It has only gotten worse since.

Anyway, I cannot decide if it is more damning to be Aaron Coleman or to be beaten by Aaron Coleman.

[kyc0705]

I don't think there's much else to be said about this extraordinarily dismaying story, but I think this is the best and most succinct take I've seen about the whole thing:
https://twitter.com/davelevitan/status/1296890044867846145
It's clear that Coleman does not sincerely understand that he's done some truly terrible things. It's clear, from the comments he made during his campaign (about Republicans getting COVID and the like), that he is generally incapable of thinking before he speaks. I think it's only reasonable to want him far, far away from any position of power and influence.

Sure, it's possible that that one day he will be a mature, thoughtful adult who has genuine remorse for his past, and has worked to be a better human being. Like anyone else this young, society should allow him the chance to grow and change. But it's exceedingly obvious he's nowhere close to becoming that person yet.

[Duke of York]

https://mobile.twitter.com/jonshorman/status/1298297886619439106

He has withdrawn his pledge to drop out

[tmthforu94]

REVERSE REVERSE

Now he says he is staying in.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/election/article245238050.html

A Kansas House candidate dogged by past inappropriate behavior who promised to drop out has abandoned his pledge and now says he will campaign against “corporatist politics” and stay on the November ballot.

[brucejoel99]

Fingers crossed that Frownfelter is able to mount a successful write-in campaign & trounce this toxic douche.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Fingers crossed that Frownfelter is able to mount a successful write-in campaign & trounce this toxic douche.

Wouldn't it be better to have someone else run a write-in campaign who hadn't already lost a primary to this guy?

[brucejoel99]

Fingers crossed that Frownfelter is able to mount a successful write-in campaign & trounce this toxic douche.

Wouldn't it be better to have someone else run a write-in campaign who hadn't already lost a primary to this guy?

Would it hypothetically be better? Sure. Does there seem to be a chance of that happening? Evidently not, no.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

He seems to quickly be pivoting to an alt-right "F*** those bitches" campaign, so this would seem to be a good time for the party to make clear they'll expel his sex criminal ass the second he sets foot in the Capitol should he win.

Make clear that all this election is settling is whether the state has to waste money on a special election in a few months.

[free my dawg]

**** this piece of ****.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

To the left
Take it back now y'all
One hop this time
One hop this time
Reverse, reverse
Slide to the left
Slide to the right
Reverse, reverse
Reverse, reverse

Cha cha now y'all, cha cha again

[LtNOWIS]

He seems to quickly be pivoting to an alt-right "F*** those bitches" campaign, so this would seem to be a good time for the party to make clear they'll expel his sex criminal ass the second he sets foot in the Capitol should he win.

Make clear that all this election is settling is whether the state has to waste money on a special election in a few months.

I'm not sure that, legally, they can expel someone or refuse to seat someone for actions they took before they were in office. I know that wouldn't be legal in the US Congress.

Nor would that be a good course of action, since it's rather inconsistent with the idea of democracy. The voters have the information and can make a decision based off of that.

House Democrats can refuse to give Coleman committee assignments or let him participate in the caucus, though. Here in Virginia, Democrats did that for Delegate Joe Morrissey after he was convicted for impregnating a 17 year old girl and then re-elected.

[JerryArkansas]

Also, just something else to say about this dude for those who want to say he's changed, he was beating his girlfriend in January of this year, and told her to "unload a clip into her head".  Such a nice person am I right?

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

His ActBlue is no longer receiving contributions.

[RussFeingoldWasRobbed]

He seems to quickly be pivoting to an alt-right "F*** those bitches" campaign, so this would seem to be a good time for the party to make clear they'll expel his sex criminal ass the second he sets foot in the Capitol should he win.

Make clear that all this election is settling is whether the state has to waste money on a special election in a few months.

I'm not sure that, legally, they can expel someone or refuse to seat someone for actions they took before they were in office. I know that wouldn't be legal in the US Congress.

Nor would that be a good course of action, since it's rather inconsistent with the idea of democracy. The voters have the information and can make a decision based off of that.

House Democrats can refuse to give Coleman committee assignments or let him participate in the caucus, though. Here in Virginia, Democrats did that for Delegate Joe Morrissey after he was convicted for impregnating a 17 year old girl and then re-elected.

You cant impeach him but you can expel him

[Skunk]

This guy is an absolute scumbag and so is anyone that would continue to support him after all of this is coming out. You can no longer just blame this on him being 14 (which was a flimsy excuse to begin with) if his abuse and manipulation continued this year.