TOPEKA
Republican Jeff Colyer, who was governor of Kansas for a year, has effectively launched his bid to reclaim the office, saying the state “needs an authentic, effective conservative” as governor.
He announced Friday that he had named Mary Eisenhower — granddaughter of President Dwight Eisenhower — as campaign treasurer. Eisenhower co-chaired Gov. Sam Brownback’s 2014 re-election bid.
Colyer kicked off what is likely to be an intense primary battle among Republicans over the next year and a half for the nomination and chance to take on Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. Republicans believe they can use the first-term governor’s handling of the pandemic to convince voters to make a change.
Underscoring how campaign season is now underway, a political action committee called Our Way Of Life launched an effort on Friday to encourage Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt to run. Schmidt said earlier this week that he is “seriously considering” entering the race.
Colyer, 60, is the first Republican to publicly move forward with a campaign. The run marks a political comeback attempt for the Johnson County plastic surgeon, who lost the 2018 GOP primary to Kris Kobach by just 343 votes.
The former governor on Friday stopped short of formally declaring that he is running, but the announcement made plain his intentions.
“I am thrilled Mary has joined our campaign for governor and humbled to be associated with such a great example of principled, successful Republican leadership,” Colyer said in an email to supporters. “Kansas has lost over 35,000 private sector jobs since I left office. It’s time to get Kansas back to work.”
Eisenhower said in a statement that Colyer can unite the Republican Party and called him the “ideal candidate to lead us past this pandemic and into a new era of prosperity and Kansas Excellence.”
Some Republicans believe Colyer could have won in 2018 if he had been the nominee. Kobach won the nomination powered in part by a last-minute endorsement from then-President Donald Trump. Colyer is now offering voters with regrets a re-do in the GOP quest to deny Kelly a second term.
“Kansas made a mistake in 2018, and it’s time to fix that mistake,” Eisenhower said.
But the Our Way of Life PAC, which describes itself as a network of conservative Republican leaders and entrepreneurs, urged candidates besides Schmidt to stay out of the race.
“It’s time to restore strong, Republican leadership to Kansas. Attorney General Derek Schmidt has an unblemished record of success in Kansas elections, and he is a proven conservative and a champion of our Constitution,” Gary Harshberger, a Dodge City businessman who chaired the Kansas Water Office under Brownback, said in a statement.
Our Way of Life said it will independently support Schmidt’s campaign if he runs and released polling from Republican pollster Cygnal this week indicating Schmidt ahead of Colyer among likely primary voters. A website soliciting donations listed a Birmingham, Ala., mailing address.
The PAC’s treasurer, Kayla Glaze, is a certified public accountant in Alabama and is also the treasurer of U.S. Energy PAC, according to records from the Federal Election Commission. The PAC was organized in October 2019, but hasn’t raised or spent any funds, records show.
Colyer never dissolved his campaign committee after his 2018 run. At the end of 2020, the committee had just $85 cash on hand. Schmidt’s attorney general campaign committee had about $176,000, but campaign funds can generally only be used for the race they were raised for.
Kelly had $655,000. Her campaign on Friday said the governor “remains focused on restoring and growing Kansas’ economy after the damage done by COVID and the Brownback-Coyler Administration, not on an election that’s two years away.”
Colyer became governor in January 2018 after Brownback resigned to take a diplomatic post. Colyer had spent seven years as Brownback’s lieutenant governor, overseeing the transition of Kansas’s Medicaid program to managed care and steadfastly opposing Medicaid expansion.
As governor, Colyer promised a “new tone” after Brownback, who left office as an unpopular figure. He pursued some transparency reforms and improvements to the Department for Children and Families. He also signed into law a massive school funding bill.
Democrats were quick to tie Colyer to Brownback and his signature income tax cuts, which devastated state finances. “The only Kansan happy about Jeff Colyer’s announcement today is Sam Brownback,” David Turner, a spokesperson for the Democratic Governors Association, said in a statement.
Since leaving office in January 2019, Colyer has maintained a semi-public profile, serving as chair of the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services. In 2019, he was a fellow at Georgetown University, where he had earned a bachelor’s degree in economics.
In the first months of the pandemic, he drew attention for backing the use of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19. Medical authorities have since warned against its use.
Colyer grew up in Hays and earned his medical degree at the University of Kansas. Before becoming lieutenant governor, he spent four years in the Legislature.
The Star’s Katie Bernard contributed reporting
This story was originally published March 05, 2021 10:20 AM.
