How miserable is it to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives these days?
Consider this: Rep. Jake LaTurner, the Republican who represents the 2nd District of Kansas, is just 36 years old and finishing up his second term in Congress. He holds a seemingly safe seat. Under ordinary circumstances, he might be at the beginning of a long career in Washington. Instead, he’s getting out, citing the “dysfunction on Capitol Hill.”
There are five candidates competing in the crowded August primary to replace LaTurner as the GOP nominee in the 2nd District.
Donald Trump’s shadow looms large over the field, naturally.
Jeff Kahrs brings more than 30 years of political experience to the race. He served recently as an aide to LaTurner, after previously working as a regional director in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the Trump administration. He boasts endorsements from Jim Ryan and Sam Brownback (both of whom previously represented the 2nd District in Congress) as well from Trump.
“We need a Congressman who will stand strong with President Trump,” he says on his campaign website, listing it first among his top priorities. “I will be an outspoken ally of President Trump, and I will vote and advocate for his America First agenda.”
Michael Ogle works for the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Kansas. His focus, naturally, is on veterans affairs, as well as American energy independence. He might make for an intriguing candidate, but for his felony convictions stemming from a 2019 Christmas Day domestic violence incident involving his ex-wife. Incredibly, he has cited his conviction as a rationale for his candidacy.
“The majority of Kansas is probably going to vote for a felon for president,” he KSNT told in Topeka, “so I figured why not take my shot and you can vote for two if you want.”
Shawn Tiffany is a rancher and feedlot owner — he’s the candidate who always wears a cowboy hat in his public appearances. He has vowed “catastrophic border policies being pushed by the radical left” and vowed to work for “a strong America that celebrates — not attacks — our Christian values.” He has also released an ad attacking transgender people in unacceptably dehumanizing terms.
“ In Kansas, we know the difference between a cow and a bull — and Rocky Mountain oysters are a real delicacy,” Tiffany says in the video. “But castration is for cattle, not our kids.”
Derek Schmidt is perhaps the candidate best known to 2nd District voters. He served as Kansas attorney general for 12 years before narrowly losing the 2022 gubernatorial race to Democrat Laura Kelly. One of his last acts as the state’s top lawyer was one of the most notorious: Schmidt used his office to back Trump’s false efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, joining a failed lawsuit that challenged Pennsylvania’s Electoral College votes for Joe Biden.
“These past four years have made clear that America was stronger when President Trump served in the White House, and I look forward to working with him and others next year — yes, to truly make America great again,” Schmidt said in his April announcement.
Chad Young is reportedly the founder of the nonprofit Life Skills Programs, but does not have an extensive public record to examine. His radical goal is to eliminate “big government” in all its forms. “ We need to abolish things like the IRS, abolish the Federal Reserve, abolish the FBI, abolish the CIA,” Young told the nonprofit Kansas Reflector. “Those are not peaceful ways for the people. Those are the enemies of the people.”
It is not a satisfying group of candidates.
Ogle, Tiffany and Young are rightly regarded as long shots. The race would seem to come down to Kahrs and Schmidt, each with long experience in government and a bundle of GOP connections. From those two, Schmidt — a one-time moderate who turned sharply to the right — would appear to be the least bad choice.
But his 2020 efforts to help Trump upend democracy are a stain on the record we cannot ignore. We make no endorsement for the Republican primary in the 2nd Congressional District.
Most Popular
Comments / 0