Most of Kansas’ delegates to the Democratic National Convention were seen wearing Kansas City Chiefs gear on the convention floor this week. The decision contradicts the fact that blue is the primary color of the DNC and that the Chiefs are based in Kansas City, Missouri.
However, Kansas Democratic leader Jeanna Repass decided that her state’s delegates would wear the chiefs’ clothing as the state sought to woo chiefs from its neighboring state.
Reed Krewson, a Democrat from Kansas, told KMBC that the party chairman and the group decided to wear the jerseys.
“The Kansas City Chiefs are the Kansas City metropolitan area,” Krewson said. “A win for them is a win for us. Our state legislature just passed a package to attract the Kansas City Chiefs to Kansas.”
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Delegates from Kansas rise for the U.S. national anthem on the second day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois on August 20, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP)
Kansas state lawmakers passed a bill in June that would expand a state incentive program with the clear goal of luring the Chiefs and possibly MLB’s Kansas City Royals. The bill would ensure the Chiefs receive hundreds of millions of dollars in sales tax revenue to build a new stadium in Kansas.
Kansas state lawmakers have been critical of Missouri as a host state for the Chiefs since before the bill was passed. Voters in Jackson County, Missouri, home to Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs’ current home stadium, in April rejected the extension of a sales tax to fund a new stadium for the Chiefs in downtown Kansas City.
“We are in danger of Kansas City losing those franchises,” said Kansas Senator Jeff Pittman, a Democrat from Leavenworth, during debate on the bill in June. “Missouri dropped the ball. We now have the opportunity to make an offer.”
During the convention this week, Repass even boasted that the delegation’s aggressiveness may have unsettled the Missouri delegates in Chicago.
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Patrick Mahomes, No. 15 overall, of the Kansas City Chiefs looks for an open receiver during the first quarter of a preseason game against the Detroit Lions at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on August 17, 2024 in Kansas City, Missouri. (David Eulitt/Getty Images)
“I think we’re making Missouri sweat a little bit,” Repass said via The Kansas City Star. “We got some dirty looks from across the room.”
The Missouri delegates wore the usual formal attire. Emanuel Cleaver, who represents Missouri’s 5th congressional district in the House of Representatives, was not a fan of the Kansas delegation’s behavior and subtly criticized his party members for it.
“Sometimes it’s bad form when we do things,” Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver told The Kansas City Star. “It wasn’t exciting for us.”
Missouri lawmakers had previously criticized the Kansas state legislature for its recent law designed to incentivize the relocation of chiefs and spoke out against the possibility of another “incentive border war” between the two states.
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July 26, 2024; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker (7) kicks while punter Matt Araiza (49) holds him during training camp at Missouri Western State University. (Denny Medley-USA Today Sports)
“Today’s vote unfortunately reignites the border war between Missouri and Kansas. It gives the teams an advantage but adds even more uncertainty to the regional stadium discussion,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said in a statement on June 20.
The lease on the Chiefs’ current stadium expires in 2031, but the team reportedly intends to seek construction of a new stadium much sooner.
The Chiefs have become one of the league’s most valuable and popular teams under the leadership of quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who has led the team to four Super Bowls with three wins since 2019. Tight end Travis Kelce’s highly publicized romantic relationship with Taylor Swift last year, as well as the team’s third Super Bowl victory under Mahomes, only further strengthened the franchise’s brand and global visibility last season.
Team president Mark Donovan said in March that moving away from Kansas City was “an option.” Meanwhile, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson has even suggested the team return to Dallas, where the franchise began in 1960 as the Dallas Texans before renaming and moving to Kansas City in 1962.
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