By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Representative Jason Probst had a consistent message for his supporters throughout what was ultimately a successful re-election campaign in House District 102, that wasn't decided until the canvass was complete on Thursday.
"Every vote matters, every vote counts," Probst said. "That was the message that I talked to a lot of people about. We had historically high turnout in this election, but in a lot of elections, we have pretty poor turnout and part of that is because people, they think nationally and they don't think locally."
Probst realizes that nearly half of those who voted didn't vote for him.
"A race this close is an opportunity to pause and reflect on how the race went and what you're hearing from the district," Probst said. "I think that, in large part, it mirrors the division in the country. I think the President was successful in animating a lot of voters to vote straight ticket and I think that is part of what caused this, but I do think that there's good reason to think about this and say, how do we start to bring people, different coalitions, together?"
Probst would like to see policy discussions be more civil now that we're past the election process.
"The rhetoric has to be brought down a couple of notches," Probst said. "We have to stop talking like we hate each other, particularly in a community this size. The rhetoric cannot be, there's us and there's them, because we all have to share this community together."
The legislature is due to gavel in after the new year.