WASHINGTON _ Rep. Steve Watkins denied Tuesday that he blamed his staff for registering him to vote at a Topeka, Kansas, UPS store, but he also described the completion of his voter form as a "collegial effort."
In a 29-minute interview with The Kansas City Star, Watkins, a Kansas Republican, acknowledged he voted in the wrong city council district in 2019 despite claiming no wrongdoing. And he repeatedly sought to tie the felony charges he faces to his GOP primary rival, Jake LaTurner.
"I put my mailing address instead of my physical address on a voter registration and inadvertently received a ballot for the incorrect, I believe, Topeka city council race. Now, that's a mistake, not a felony," Watkins said.
He attributed the use of the mailing address to his time spent overseas, saying "out of habit my address is my mailing address" after "eight years in the sandbox" with the Army in Afghanistan and as a security contractor in Iraq during the 2000s.
However, The Star revealed in 2018 that Watkins had never voted in any election until 2017, several years after his service in the Army ended.
He faces three felony charges and one misdemeanor related to the allegations that he illegally voted in the 2019 municipal election. The charges are similar to those private citizens faced under former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.
"I wasn't hiding the ball," Watkins said. "I know that my address is public, so if I were to claim to live somewhere that I actually don't, why on Earth would I choose a retail location where you can't possibly live? I would choose a residential location."
Watkins said at no point did he lie to a Shawnee County detective or attempt to blame the matter on his staff, as Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay's office has alleged.
But pressed on whether he told investigators a staffer submitted the incorrect form on his behalf, Watkins appeared to acknowledge that claim. He said his remark had been taken out of context.
"My office like every other office, the product that we produce is a collegial effort between more than one person. That's all I was saying. It was taken out of context," Watkins said.
Pressed on why his personal voter form would be a work product of his congressional office, Watkins maintained it was not an unusual circumstance.
"That's getting into particulars that we'll have to leave up to the case, but this I'll say: All, if not nearly all, products that come from any office here in Congress are touched by more than one hand," Watkins said.
Staff members for Kansas Reps. Sharice Davids and Roger Marshall confirmed that no such collaborative approach has been taken with their voter registrations. They said the lawmakers each registered themselves.
Sources have previously told The Star that during the period in 2019 Watkins was registered at the UPS store, he had been living his parents.
"In between residences, there was a stretch of time with my family that I was crashing with them. In between residences, but what you're looking to do is take a factoid and blow it out of proportion," Watkins said.
Watkins' father, Steve Watkins Sr., is a physician who steered six figures into a super PAC promoting his son's candidacy in 2018.
The elder Watkins also disclosed earlier this year that he is facing a Federal Election Commission inquiry into contributions he had funneled to his son's campaign through other donors, an action prohibited by federal law.
Watkins, whose campaign has spent more than $50,000 on legal fees this election cycle, said he was not aware of the status of the inquiry involving his father.
The legal headaches have severely complicated Watkins' reelection path in the Kansas 2nd Congressional District, which covers most of eastern Kansas.
He faces a three-way primary on Aug. 4 against LaTurner and Dennis Taylor, who served in multiple high-level roles in the administrations of Republican Govs. Mike Hayden and Sam Brownback.
If Watkins survives the primary, he'll face Topeka Mayor Michelle De La Isla in the general election. De La Isla has outraised both Watkins and LaTurner since January.
Watkins downplayed the impact the felony case will have on his re-election chances.
"Kansas voters are smart. They can see through these bogus allegations and they see that there's a blatant donor and consultant link between the DA and LaTurner," Watkins said.
Watkins' claims of collusion rest upon the fact that LaTurner and Kagay both rely on the same direct mail firm, Singularis, an Overland Park-based that company that serves numerous Republicans in the region, such as Sens. Jerry Moran and Josh Hawley.
Political operatives in the district say the charges against Watkins have heavily damaged him.
"He signed three documents, two of them voter registration forms and one of them a mail ballot request form, where he said his domicile was a UPS store under penalty of perjury," said David Kensinger, a longtime GOP strategist who lives in Topeka and has run statewide campaigns for Brownback and other Republicans.
"You're never in a good place politically if your best defense is you don't know your home address," Kensinger said.
