Science: Back in Kansas Again

The primary elections in Kansas are done, and all is over except the screaming. Expect a lot of it coming from the Pacific Northwest, somewhere around the headquarters of the Discovery Institute. Four Kansas state Board of Education incumbents were running for re-election, one pro-science incumbent and three “teach the controversy but don’t call it ID” incumbents. A fifth seat was a race between the son-in-law of an anti-science incumbent stepping down from the board and a pro-science challenger. If the reported numbers hold true, then anti-science incumbents John Bacon and Ken Willard, and pro-science incumbent Janet Waugh all will be on the general ballot in November. The pro-science candidates won the primary against anti-science incumbent Connie Morris and candidate Brad Patzer. Yes, there is still the general election, but it is unlikely that the candidates left after the primary will be at any large risk of failing in the general election, and even if they did, their challengers then are likely to be pro-science in outlook themselves. This means it is quite likely that the 6-4 split currently between anti-science and pro-science board members will change to 4-6, giving the pro-science group a majority on the board and the ability to adopt the original “majority report” set of science standards for Kansas.

The Discovery Institute put in a lot of effort on Kansas, and they are unlikely to take this setback well. We’ll see soon enough, though, I expect.

See the PT thread on the primary results for more details and links to other sites.