KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A video from a campaign event this week showed Katie Sawyer, a Republican candidate for Kansas lieutenant governor, laughing after a man suggested that Gov. Laura Kelly should “change the lock on her office door” during a discussion about transgender athletes.
In the video obtained by The Kansas City Star, Sawyer, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s running mate, was seen speaking in a room full of constituents at a Republican candidate forum in Marion on Wednesday.
Sawyer criticized Kelly, the incumbent Democrat, for vetoing a Republican-led proposal that would have banned transgender athletes from girls sports.
“When she doesn’t stop the ability of transgender men from competing in sports with our girls, that’s a problem,” Sawyer said in the video.
When the moderator of the forum asked for questions from the crowd, a man in the audience said, “I think she oughta change the lock on her office door,” referring to Kelly. Another man chimed in, “If she was ever at the Capitol, we might.”
Sawyer, a former staffer for Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, did not respond to the two comments and was instead seen laughing in the video along with the rest of the crowd. Marshall earlier this year demanded changes to television ratings so parents could shield their children from LGBTQ representation in shows.
LGBTQ leaders in Kansas decried the man’s comment as a threat and expressed outrage about Sawyer’s laughing response.
“A candidate for what could be the highest office in the state thinks it’s funny to threaten the sitting governor — especially over the issue of LGBT equality? This isn’t funny,” said Tom Witt, executive director of Equality Kansas, the state’s leading LGBTQ rights organization.
“Transgender people are already the victims of hate crimes, more than just about any other group in the country. This is not funny. This is not a joke. This is not something to laugh at.”
Asked about the man’s comment and whether Sawyer condemned it, Schmidt campaign manager C.J. Grover attacked The Kansas City Star for covering the issue.
“The Star should be embarrassed for publishing this hit piece and ought to apologize for smearing Marion County with the false suggestion one of their senior citizens was threatening the governor. We will indeed change the locks on the governor’s office doors - in January after Kansas voters reject the liberal Kelly-Biden agenda in November,” Grover said in a statement.
State Rep. Stephanie Byers, a Democrat and Kansas’ first transgender lawmaker, said she considered the man’s comment about the lock on Kelly’s door a threat.
“How else do you perceive that other than a threat,” she said. “And the callous laughing about it afterwards? You know, we need people in leadership in Kansas that are mature and understand that if elected to that office, they represent all Kansans, including the LGBTQ Kansans that live in the state.”
Kelly’s campaign declined to comment on the video.
The Kansas Highway Patrol had not seen the video and had not received any reports about it, spokesperson Candice Breshears said in a statement.
“We always continue to work with our intelligence officers to ensure the safety of our Kansas citizens, including the Governor,” the statement said.
