Now that he has a treasurer, Jeff Colyer has taken another step toward raising money for what appears to be a likely campaign for Kansas governor.
Colyer has now set up a fundraising account with WinRed, the Republican online platform established in 2019 to counter the Democratic Party’s online success with ActBlue.
Last week, Colyer announced that he had named as campaign treasurer, Mary Eisenhower, former CEO of People to People International and granddaughter of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Founded in 2019, WinRed is the Republican version of ActBlue, the online site that helps Democrats raise money from small donors and has been used as a way for some groups to connect candidates with donors on a broader scale.
Colyer never closed his campaign account from the 2018 campaign.
His most recent campaign finance report filed at the first of the year showed him with about $86 on hand.
Colyer’s anticipated rival – Republican Attorney General Dererk Schmidt – does not appear to have set up a similar account.
Schmidt has been dropping hints about running but has been more guarded about his plans, although a super political action committee with ties to western Kansas and businessman Cecil O’Brate has urged him to run.
Schmidt been more public in recent months, supporting bills in the Legislature, joining a brief challenging the presidential election and filing briefs in other high-profile national legal cases, including one in support of a National Rifle Association lawsuit to stop the state of New York from dissolving the organization.
Last year, it was reported that WinRed raised more than $1.2 billion for candidates since it started in mid-2019.
Washburn University poltical scientist Bob Beattty said it’s a foregone conclusion that Colyer is running for governor in 2022.
“It would be tempting to say that since the day he conceded the Republican primary in 2018 that he was running,” Beatty said.
“All the trademarks are there for another run. I have no doubt that he’s running.”
