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The far-right governor of Oklahoma certainly tried hard to get Panasonic and Tesla, too, without success. The Oklahoma Legislature approved of the incentive offered to Panasonic. Oklahoma now has $2.8 billion in its rainy-day fund. Oklahoma is one of the most undesirable states to locate to, so won't be surprised a good share of that money will be used to entice companies to come.
As for Kansas, it may benefit from not having extreme anti-abortion laws, quite unlike some of its neighboring states.
Which is why Oklahoma City initiated the rolling series of temporary sales-tax surcharges that fund the Metropolitan Area Projects.
I heard that the impetus came when an airline that had announced it was moving its maintenance base to OKC reversed its decision after it polled its employees and learned that it was the last place they wanted to relocate to.
It's all about business and not politics.
Republican politicians like big factories with jobs coming to their states. If anything, they are too growth-at-any-costs to give a flip about the nature of the business, unlike dems who tend to oppose every freakin' Chick-fil-A that wants to open in their district. Don't forget AOC's Amazon ordeal. Republicans generally don't do that.
Businesses also tend to look at labor costs and feasibility before politics, at least they do behind closed doors.
Publicly, they might spout off rhetoric to fend off the woke mobs.
Kansas, specifically Johnson County, is very aggressive at attracting jobs. It's all about tax incentives and the like. They've been poaching jobs from just across the state line for decades, from within their own metro, long before the childishness of modern national politics.
You'd be hard pressed to find a municipality within a 4-5 state region that can attract business like they do.
Again, the differences of politics between Missouri and Kansas is extremely negligible. Put abortion to a statewide vote in Missouri, and I'd wager the outcome would be similar to Kansas. Run a decent moderate presidential dem candidate for the first time in eons, then Missouri might vote for them.
It doesn't make sense to declare Kansas is now a swing state over one issue, especially not that particular issue.
1) Not all Democrats are like AOC. Philadelphia officials pulled out all the stops to land Amazon HQ2.
2) You omit one major influencer of business location decisions — perhaps the most important one: Where does the top dog live, or where would they like to? Did you note that Amazon ultimately decided to split HQ2 between the two East Coast cities where Jeff Bezos owned residences? (AOC and progressive New Yorkers swung into action after Amazon announced its decision, leading Amazon to scrub that HQ2 location.)
3) Kansas has yet to elect anyone like Jeff Hawley. Sorry, it is more moderate than Missouri is now.
It's all about business and not politics.
Republican politicians like big factories with jobs coming to their states.
If anything, they are too growth-at-any-costs to give a flip about the nature of the business, unlike dems who tend to oppose every freakin' Chick-fil-A that wants to open in their district. Don't forget AOC's Amazon ordeal. Republicans generally don't do that.
Businesses also tend to look at labor costs and feasibility before politics, at least they do behind closed doors.
Publicly, they might spout off rhetoric to fend off the woke mobs.
Kansas, specifically Johnson County, is very aggressive at attracting jobs. It's all about tax incentives and the like. They've been poaching jobs from just across the state line for decades, from within their own metro, long before the childishness of modern national politics.
You'd be hard pressed to find a municipality within a 4-5 state region that can attract business like they do.
Again, the differences of politics between Missouri and Kansas is extremely negligible. Put abortion to a statewide vote in Missouri, and I'd wager the outcome would be similar to Kansas. Run a decent moderate presidential dem candidate for the first time in eons, then Missouri might vote for them.
It doesn't make sense to declare Kansas is now a swing state over one issue, especially not that particular issue.
I agree with you that I don't think Missouri is as conservative, as it increasingly is stereotyped to be like. Just because Josh Hawley got elected, doesn't mean all lawmakers in MO are as bad as he is. And I have this hope that one day, people will start to(in a lot of states) get tired of Trumpism type politicians. Even in states that are more blue or purple, that such types sometimes have gotten elected, or get elected to the occasional school board. I will refrain from naming any specific names in other states, since I don't want to sidetrack this topic away from the focus of Missouri and Kansas.
Also there's a disconnect between the crap the vocal right wing state lawmakers in Missouri have proposed, vs. the intiatives Missouri voters have approved when put on the ballot. I.e. that a minimum wage increase in MO was approved in the 2010s(forget the year that occurred in), and some others like a medical marijuana referendum in 2018. I believe a full medical marijuana legalization referendum(this, at https://missouriindependent.com/2022...on-signatures/ ) would be approved in fall 2022, if it does qualify for the Missouri November ballot.
Also in the end anyway, it isn't like Kansas doesn't have influences from the far right religious types. Not just Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, but from those I talk to, it seems like enough such people(religious conservative evangelical types) exist in Wichita, the way they also exist in Springfield. That said I'm NOT saying everyone in Wichita is conservative, as Sedgwick County(KS) voters did over 50% reject the abortion ban amendment.
Tornadoes are a scourge in many states, and Kansas doesn't really stand out for their impacts since a lot of the state is lightly populated. In recent years the core of "Tornado Alley" has tended to shift away from the Great Plains further east towards the Mississippi and lower Ohio Valleys.
Also in the end anyway, it isn't like Kansas doesn't have influences from the far right religious types. Not just Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, but from those I talk to, it seems like enough such people(religious conservative evangelical types) exist in Wichita, the way they also exist in Springfield. That said I'm NOT saying everyone in Wichita is conservative, as Sedgwick County(KS) voters did over 50% reject the abortion ban amendment.
Religious conservatives in neither Wichita nor Springfield are as crazy as the Westboro Baptist Church cult in Topeka, I will grant.
It's my impression, however, that Wichita as a city is purple (one of a handful of sizable US cities about which that can be said) and its suburbs bright red, which makes Sedgwick County pink at best. As for Springfield, well, it is home to one of the larger fundamentalist denominations, the Assemblies of God.
Westboro Baptist is a tiny congregation of well under 100 people. Doubt they have much influence in Topeka (pop. 125k), much less Kansas as a whole.
They are independent, not affiliated with any particular denomination.
The Assemblies of God are not fundamentalists.
They are somewhat conservative, but many within the evangelical realm consider them to be very mainstream if not a bit loosey-goosey. Rock concert atmospheres with light, feel-good messages are common in their mega-churches.
Nevertheless, they still don’t completely dominate Springfield politics.
Honestly, the town is trending more purple than people on here are recognizing.
Again, the political differences are negligible between the two states.
Westboro Baptist is a tiny congregation of well under 100 people. Doubt they have much influence in Topeka (pop. 125k), much less Kansas as a whole.
They are independent, not affiliated with any particular denomination.
Point taken about Westboro (and I think most of the congregants belong to the same extended family), but its profile far exceeds it size thanks to its practice of sending members to military funerals with pickets reading "God Hates You." (This is a further evolution of their initial protest, showing up at gay pride marches and parades with signs reading "God Hates ****." Their logic: since the country still refuses to condemn homosexuals to Hell, God hates the country as well.)
I stand corrected about the character of the Assemblies of God. But the evangelicals, with some exceptions (e.g., Tony Campolo, President Clinton's favorite minister, a faculty member at Eastern University (nee Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary) here in Philadelphia, tend to take a dim view of gay folk in general.
Missouri is more scenic than Kansas, but the state feels full of stale, negative energy (for reasons I have difficulty articulating). Missouri reminds me of Pennsylvania in that regard. There is something brighter and more positive about Kansas, probably due to the wide-open spaces. I know there are wide-open spaces in certain parts of Missouri, but not to the same extent as Kansas.
Missouri is more scenic than Kansas, but the state feels full of stale, negative energy (for reasons I have difficulty articulating). Missouri reminds me of Pennsylvania in that regard. There is something brighter and more positive about Kansas, probably due to the wide-open spaces. I know there are wide-open spaces in certain parts of Missouri, but not to the same extent as Kansas.
A very good comparison, although Missouri has much poorer rural areas compared to Pennsylvania. Missouri is very economically regressive and has very little to none of the "New South" Sunbelt levels of in-migration and job growth. It also is not a right to work state, similar to Pennsylvania in that regard. It has some of the worst weather in the US, and the rural areas have too much of an outsized influence on politics in the state to the very severe detriment of St. Louis and Kansas City metro areas.
A very good comparison, although Missouri has much poorer rural areas compared to Pennsylvania. Missouri is very economically regressive and has very little to none of the "New South" Sunbelt levels of in-migration and job growth. It also is not a right to work state, similar to Pennsylvania in that regard. It has some of the worst weather in the US, and the rural areas have too much of an outsized influence on politics in the state to the very severe detriment of St. Louis and Kansas City metro areas.
Funny, though, that Outer_Bluegrass drew that parallel — I'm prone to map Pennsylvania and Missouri onto each other as well.
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