Kansas is becoming more divided. Democrats win suburban areas and the GOP holds rural communities...

Despite Democrats flipping three Kansas House seats in Johnson County — the state’s most populated area — Republican strength in rural communities remains as strong as ever. That gives rural lawmakers more say in important budget and policy-making discussions.
OVERLAND PARK, Kansas — Republican Ed Roitz lives in central Overland Park, right in the middle of that state’s most populous, suburban county.

He ran to represent his affluent Johnson County neighbors in the Kansas House this fall, focusing on the tried-and-true conservative policy of cutting taxes.

But when he met voters on their doorsteps, he came face-to-face with a changing electorate. One voter, for instance, told him she likes paying taxes.

“She was convinced,” Roitz said, “that the only reason that we have it ‘so good here in Johnson County and Overland Park’ is because the taxes are so high.”