Republican Kris Kobach has enlisted the help of a veteran Kansas political consultant who helped elect Phill Kline attorney general and worked for Sam Brownback when he was a U.S. senator.
Kobach spokeswoman Danedri Herbert acknowledged Thursday that the campaign has brought on board JD Johannes as a general consultant.
The campaign would not disclose Johannes’ specific role in the campaign, so it’s hard to get a firm fix on just how much change this means to the campaign.
Word has been circulating that Johannes would serve as Kobach’s new campaign manager, replacing Republican state Rep. J.R. Claeys. But Claeys said late Thursday that his role with the campaign is not changing. He said he will still report to Kobach and running mate Wink Hartman.
Johannes owns a consulting firm in Topeka called VCreek/AMG, which has done work for Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Russell of Oklahoma and Americas PAC, a super political action committee that works for conservative causes.
Johannes’ work for Americas PAC includes research, media consulting and media production, campaign finance records show. The PAC is now opposing Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in West Virginia, campaign finance reports show.
“Very talented, hard-working guy,” texted David Kensinger, a top lieutenant for Brownback. “He’s somebody who could add value in every aspect of a campaign.”
A Marine Corps veteran, Johannes has worked as a combat documentary filmmaker who has reported from Iraq and Afghanistan. His work has appeared in Time and the National Review.
Johannes guided Kline to a victory in the 2002 race for attorney general, highlighted by a tight general election win over Chris Biggs. Johannes went to work for Kline in the attorney general’s office.
At one point, Johannes worked as an aide to Brownback, running the senator’s Topeka office after coming up through constituent services, especially in the areas of veterans affairs, active military personnel and community outreach.
Johannes left Kline’s office in 2005 and went to Iraq where, according to this website, he “built a TV news syndication network providing local affiliates reports on their hometown units engaged in combat operations.”
In an interview Thursday, Kline praised his old campaign manager from 2002. Johannes, Kline said, exhibited good intuition and an understanding of what needed to be done and when it needed to be done.
“Timing is so important, and you’ve got to have somebody who is pouring themselves into it, and J.D. does that,” Kline said. “There’s no holding back with J.D. He’s all in.”
