(Updated to show Schmidt had a primary in 2022)
Former Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt is returning to Kansas politics, announcing Friday morning that he will run for the 2nd Congressional District seat that will come open with Congressman Jake LaTurner not seeking reelection.
Coming off a defeat in the 2022 governor’s race to Democrat Laura Kelly, Schmidt is jumping into a race that already includes Turner’s senior adviser Jeff Kahrs and former Kansas Livestock Association President Shawn Tiffany.
Kahrs and Tiffany announced their candidacies Thursday.
“My family and I are grateful for the many friends and neighbors who have reached out to let us know they believe we have more to offer Kansas,” Schmidt said in statement.
“I feel a calling to serve, so I am excited to announce that I am running. I strongly believe that America needs more effective, conservative voices in public service.”
Schmidt touted a “strong record” of prosecuting criminals, including “numerous illegal aliens who committed crimes in Kansas.”
He pointed to efforts to protect children from sexual predators and to protect older Kansans from financial and physical abuse.
He pointed to cases he argued successfully before the United States Supreme Court.
“My steady guidepost will be what is best for the people of the 2nd District and for America,” Schmidt said.
“These past four years have made clear that America was stronger when President Trump served in the White House,” he said.
“I look forward to working with him and others next year – yes, to truly make America great again.”
While in the state Senate, Schmidt chaired the agriculture committee, and served as
majority leader.
He previously served as counsel to former Kansas Gov. Bill Graves and as legislative assistant to former U.S. Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum.
When Schmidt ran for governor in 2022, he received 47.9% of the vote in the 2nd District compared to Kelly, who received 48.6% of the vote, according to data compiled by Wichita State political scientist Brian Amos.
Conservative independent candidate Dennis Pyle received 2.4% of the vote in the 2nd District, while Libertarian candidate Seth Cordell received 1.7%.
The constitutional amendment on abortion – Value Them Both – was defeated in this district 59% to 41%, according to Amos’ data.
For only the third time in his political career, Schmidt will be tested in a Republican primary where he will be forced to defend his conservative credentials.
Schmidt didn’t face a serious primary during the governor’s race when former Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer withdrew because of illness. He defeated perennial candidate Arlyn Briggs with 80% of the vote.
Schmidt had a primary in 2010 when he first ran for attorney general, easily defeating Ralph De Zago with about 76% of the vote before he was elected to office.
He also had a primary in 2000 when he first ran for the state Senate, where he represented southeast Kansas from 2001 to 2011.
In that 2000 primary, Schmidt defeated current Republican state Sen. Virgil Peck with 58% of the vote.
Rob Fillion, campaign manager for Kahrs, called Schmidt “a timid career politician who has failed conservatives at every turn during his time in the state legislature and as attorney general of Kansas.
“Our nation can’t afford another rubber stamp for the D.C. Establishment,” Fillion said.
“Jeff Kahrs will refuse to compromise on our conservative values and is the only candidate in this race who has a proven record of working with President Trump to put America first.”
Will Lawrence, chief of staff for Gov. Laura Kelly, said Schmidt would be the weakest candidate in the field for the 2nd District.
Lawrence said Schmidt would have the “backbone of a wet blanket.”
“He’ll agonize over every decision trying to figure out how to make people like him more,” Lawrence said.
During the governor’s race, Schmidt ran to the right, criticizing Kelly for vetoing a bill banning transgender athletes from competing in female sports.
Late in the campaign, he pounced on published report by a British tabloid, that suggested the state Commerce Department used tax dollars to fund an “all-ages” drag show.
As attorney general, Schmidt advocated for bills in Legislature that would require high school students to pass a civics course and ban e-cigarettes and vaping at most indoor locations.
Schmidt joined with a group of Republican legislative leaders to back a constitutional amendment that would allow the Legislature to veto executive agency regulations, a proposal which was narrowly defeated by voters.
The attorney general also has joined a number of national, high-profile court cases, which included joining a brief with 16 other states in support of what was described as a “Hail Mary” lawsuit seeking to throw out the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The attorney general drew blowback over the presidential election lawsuit, especially from Democrats who said it was an embarrassment to the state, although Colyer criticized him on social media for not moving fast enough to join the lawsuit.
Schmidt also joined a brief with 15 other states in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reexamine a court ruling that found a Michigan funeral home violated federal law when it fired a transgender employee.
Schmidt signed onto a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of the funeral home, which appealed a ruling from the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The appeals court found that the funeral home violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which bars employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.
The Supreme Court ruled against the funeral home, finding that federal employment discrimination law protects LGBTQ workers.
In 2019,, Schmidt’s office successfully argued three cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, the first time in modern Kansas history that the state had three cases pending before the high court at one time.
Schmidt won an appeal of a state Supreme Court decision, which overturned three identity theft convictions because federal law preempted state prosecutions for using false or stolen personal information contained in federal immigration forms.
His office also successfully defended the constitutionality of a police vehicle stop in Douglas County for a revoked driver’s license based on the registration of the pickup truck.
And he successfully defended the Kansas insanity-defense law, turning back an appeal from James Kahler who shot to death four family members on Thanksgiving weekend 2009.
