(Updated to include total $2 million ad buy planned against Schmidt with comment from the president of the fund)
A federal political action committee largely financed by a billionaire who advocates for school choice launched an ad against Republican Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt for voting against a bill as a state senator that would have repealed a state law providing in-state tuition to students who lived in the country illegally.
The ad is bankrolled by the School Freedom Fund, which is affiliated with the conservative-leaning Club for Growth. It booked about $873,000 in the Kansas City, Topeka and Wichita markets, according to national ad tracking firm AdImpact.
Club for Growth said Wednesday that it planned to spend $2 million against Schmidt, who some conservatives feared would be able to get through a crowded GOP primary dominated by conservatives.
“Vicki Schmidt has spent her career putting illegal aliens and teacher unions ahead of Kansas families,” said School Freedom Fund President David McIntosh.
“If you call yourself a Republican and oppose school freedom, expect to lose an expensive primary. School Freedom Fund is ready to invest whatever it takes to expose Schmidt’s liberal record and defeat her in August.”
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The ad is the first major blow that Schmidt’s campaign has taken during the campaign, aside from Kansans for Life setting up a website to opposing her candidacy for governor.
“The big money out-of-state special interest attacks show Vicki’s campaign has real momentum,” said Mandy Roe, spokesperson for the Schmidt campaign.
“Vicki’s message of making Kansas more efficient, more accessible and less costly is resonating with everyday Kansans – making the bought and paid for candidates concerned about their path,” Roe said in an email.
Roe said that in 2008 repeal attempt of the 2004 law was opposed by the Kansas Catholic Conference, the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, the Kansas Livestock Association, the Kansas Farm Bureau, the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association, the Wichita Independent Business Association, the Kansas Contractors Association and the League of Municipalities, among others.
“As governor, Vicki will support efforts to deport violent criminals and drug dealers to help keep our communities safe,” Roe said.
The School Freedom Fund is a federal political action committee that was sitting on a nest egg of about $9 million at the end of May.
In February, the School Freedom Fund received a $5 million contribution from Jeff Yass, cofounder of Susquehanna International Group, one of Wall Street’s largest and most successful trading firms. Yass gave $10 million to the fund in 2025.
Forbes reported that Susquehanna has invested in hundreds of private companies around the globe, including TikTok parent ByteDance.
Yass is an ardent supporter of school vouchers and other school-choice initiatives.
The Washington Post reported that since 2015, Yass has given more than $350 million to political campaigns, including tens of millions in 2025. The Post reported he was the sixth-largest donor between 2015 and 2024, ahead of Elon Musk and behind George Soros.
The new ad from the School Freedom Fund is running in all three major televisions markets in Kansas, Wichita, Topeka and Kansas City.
As of Wednesday morning, it had already been seen 242,000 times, according to national ad tracker AdImpact.
The ad rolled out the same day that President Donald Trump’s administration filed a lawsuit challenging the 2004 state law that provides in-state tuition at higher education institutions for students who don’t live in the country legally.
The government says that federal law mandates that “an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a state … for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit … without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident.”
As a result, the Kansas in-state tuition law violates the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution and must yield to federal law, the lawsuit said.
Last legislative session, Kansas lawmakers tried to pass a bill that would have eliminated in-state tuition at higher education institutions for students who don’t live in the country legally.
It was part of a larger bill banning immigrants living in the country illegally from receiving most state or local benefits.
The bill passed 22-18 in the Senate and 78-46 in the House.
As much as he tried, Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach couldn’t get lawmakers to override the governor’s veto of the bill.
On the last day of the session, Kobach met in a closed door-session with Senate Republicans to discuss how he believes that federal law requires the state to end the in-state tuition program.
Nevertheless, the Legislature didn’t try to override the veto, given that it was five votes short in the Senate and six short in the House. The veto override had to start in the Senate.
