A Democratic veterinarian and veteran from southeast Kansas on Monday announced his candidacy to challenge first-term Republican incumbent Derek Schmidt in the 2nd Congressional District.
Don Coover, a 1973 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy who served 10 years in the Army, has stepped up to challenge Schmidt.
Coover filed a statement of organization with the Federal Election Commission on Monday, although he had been billed as a candidate as early as June 19 when he appeared at an event in Cherokee County with Democratic state Sen. Cindy Holscher, a candidate for Kansas governor.
Coover listed his treasurer as former longtime state Sen. Anthony Hensley, who also was the top Democrat in the Kansas Senate.
His team includes the national political compliance firm Acuity Politics, which has worked for the Kansas House Democrats, Democratic U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado and Democrats in Pennsylvania and Virginia.
“I’m looking for rational, dependable solutions to problems that everybody sees and nobody’s addressing,” Coover said in a brief interview.
He specifically cited tariffs that he said are “ruining the grain farmers” and an immigration policy that’s “scaring the crap out of everybody that depends on that kind of labor.”
During his time in the Army, Coover served in Korea with an aviation intelligence unit as a pilot and cryptographic operations officer, where he was responsible for intelligence gathering, analysis and reporting.
After serving as a captain in the Army, Coover graduated from Kansas State University’s School of Veterinary Medicine.
He returned to the Army, providing veterinary services for K-9 unit dogs and inspecting food production facilities for Department of Defense contractors.
He now runs a beef cattle genetics company, along with a working ranch operation of several hundred head of cattle as well as veterinary practice for local and regional livestock producers.
“I believe that everyone wants to work hard and provide for their families. But too many folks are working so hard right now, and barely making ends meet,” Coover said in a separate statement announcing his candidacy.
“We all see it with rising grocery and housing costs, farmers getting squeezed by tariffs, the tens of thousands of Kansans set to lose their health insurance, and the closing of local hospitals,” he said.
“And politicians in Washington keep making things worse. They either don’t know what the hell they’re doing, or they’re too focused on their own reelection or what their party leaders want.”
Schmidt, the former Kansas attorney general, has the support of President Donald Trump as he seeks a second term in Congress representing a district the leans heavily in favor of the president.
He defeated four other Republican candidates in the 2024 GOP primary and defeated Democrat Nancy Boyda with 57% of the vote in the general election.
Schmidt enters the race with $266,120 in the bank after raising $151,894 during the last quarter.
In the abbreviated 2024 election that occurred after Republican Jake LaTurner abruptly announced he would not run for Congress again in the spring of that year, Schmidt raised about $1.27 million in winning the seat.
“Rough start for Democrat Don Coover,” said Eric Pahls, senior political adviser for Schmidt.
“We learned 4 things from his filing: His treasurer is Kansas’ most partisan Democrat. He doesn’t know how to spell Pittsburg,” Pahls said, alluding to the fact that the city in Kansas was spelled with an ‘h’ like the city in Pennsylvania on the FEC filing.
“He hired the same consultants as Jasmine Crockett,” Pahls said, referring to the Texas congresswoman who is a sharp critic of Trump and recently called him a “piece of shit.”
“And he cashes his checks on K St. in D.C. Kansans will reject Democrat Don Coover’s candidacy soundly.”
