Kansas Race Now One of the Hottest Contests in the Midterms

Democrats are struggling to hold their majority in the US Senate after the November elections. Now they’re looking for help in the most unlikely of places—the very red state of Kansas.

The last time Kansas sent a Democrat to the US Senate, Babe Ruth was playing for the Yankees. This year, the Democratic candidate has withdrawn. But the state’s top election official—who’s a conservative Republican—is insisting that a Democrat must appear on the ballot. David Von Drehle is editor at large for TIME magazine. He joins us from Shawnee Mission, a suburb of Kansas City.