Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt entered the race for governor Tuesday, seeking to win over Republican voters by highlighting opposition to Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.
Schmidt’s entry comes less than a week after former Gov. Jeff Colyer effectively launched his own campaign for the GOP nomination, beginning a primary battle that will last more than a year and will likely attract more candidates.
Republicans are eager to take on Kelly, anticipating that her handling of the pandemic will make her vulnerable. They’re betting that the state’s overall conservative sway, combined with anger at virus-related restrictions last year, will prove enough to limit Kelly to one term.
Schmidt framed his candidacy as bringing “common sense and conservative leadership” to the state. He criticized the governor over hundreds of millions in fraudulent unemployment claims the Kansas Department of Labor has paid out and executive orders that closed businesses and organizations early in the pandemic.
“The intolerant left with its cancel culture and big tech censorship is trying to shame and silence conservative voices. Meanwhile. Gov. Kelly’s administration keeps disappointing,” Schmidt said in a video announcement.
In an interview, Schmidt called for a more “efficient and effective” state government where problems are identified and fixed before they become crises. He pointed to problems with the unemployment system, saying issues festered for years and then “melted down at a high when the system was needed the most.”
Schmidt, 53, would be the first Kansas attorney general to ascend to the governor’s office since the 1960s. A graduate of Georgetown Law, he served in the Kansas Senate for a decade before winning election as attorney general in 2010.
Schmidt has considered runs for higher office in the past, but held off in favor of the relative security of the attorney general’s office. Past Democratic attempts to unseat him gained little traction and he won re-election in 2018 by 18 points.
Over the last week, Schmidt had said he was “seriously considering” a campaign. And last Friday, a political action committee called Our Way Of Life launched an effort encouraging him to run.
Kelly Arnold, the Sedgwick County clerk and a past chair of the Kansas Republican Party, will serve as Schmidt’s campaign treasurer.
At the end of 2020, he had about $176,000 in his campaign account, but campaign finance rules generally prohibit him from allocating the money toward his gubernatorial bid. Colyer, who never terminated his gubernatorial campaign operation, had $85 in cash as of Dec. 31. It wasn’t immediately clear what would happen to Schmidt’s existing campaign funds.
Schmidt’s confrontation with Colyer will pit two Republicans with deep ties to the Statehouse against each other. Both are former state senators who went on to helm executive offices.
Colyer wasted no time in attacking Schmidt on Tuesday.
“It’s good that Kansas voters will now have a clear choice between me, the conservative candidate, and Derek Schmidt who has spent over twenty years carrying water for the most liberal elements of the Kansas Republican Party,” Colyer said in a statement.
Without naming them, Colyer noted that Schmidt had worked for both former U.S. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum and former Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska during their times in office. Both are Republicans, but Kassebaum endorsed Barbara Bollier’s Democratic campaign for Senate last year and Hagel was defense secretary under former President Barack Obama.
“I started my public service working for President Reagan, a conservative hero,” Colyer said.
Asked about Colyer, Schmidt said “it’s time to move forward, not backwards.”
“Kansans want a trusted Kansas conservative leading this state. But they also want to make sure we’re moving ahead and I think I offer that,” Schmidt said.
A Kelly spokesman didn’t immediately comment. But Kansas Democratic Party chair Vicki Hiatt in a statement called Schmidt a “cookie-cutter politician in the same mold as Sam Brownback and Kris Kobach.”
“Unlike Schmidt, Governor Kelly has consistently shown strong leadership during very challenging times,” Hiatt said. “First, she came into office and cleaned up the Brownback mess – balancing the budget and fully funding our schools, all without a tax increase. Now she’s making sure Kansans recover from COVID-19 and get back on their feet.”
Schmidt’s position as attorney general has allowed him to selectively weigh in on issues, while avoiding the constant votes a legislator must take and the many controversial decisions a governor must make.
As one of the most powerful elected Republicans in the state, he has clashed repeatedly with Kelly over the past two years and especially during the pandemic.
In early April Schmidt, citing constitutional concerns, told police not to enforce Kelly’s executive order limiting the size of church gatherings just before Easter. He has since advised the Legislature on sweeping changes to the state’s emergency management law, proposing changes that would limit executive power and give his attorney general’s office the authority to review executive orders.
Alongside other state attorneys general, Schmidt also backed a baseless lawsuit after the November election that sought to overturn presidential election results. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the case.
On Monday, he joined another lawsuit challenging the greenhouse gas regulations of President Joe Biden’s administration.
Schmidt serves on Kansas’ Criminal Justice Reform Commission, recommending policy changes aimed at reducing recidivism and the state’s prison population. He also advocated for legislation which would recognize concealed carry permits from all 50 states in Kansas.
Last month Schmidt began pushing for a constitutional amendment that would empower the Legislature to suspend or cancel executive agency regulations. If approved it will be brought to Kansas voters on the same ballot he will be on in November 2022.
This story was originally published March 09, 2021 8:08 AM.
