A nonprofit social welfare group backing former Gov. Jeff Colyer in the 2026 governor’s race has dropped the first major broadcast buy for the upcoming campaign.
Kansas 1st Inc., which is not required to disclose its donors, has booked $433,751 during the month of November, according to national political ad tracker, AdImpact.
The November spend brings to $623,456 that Kansas 1st has spent on the governor’s race.
The group spent $189,679 in May and June after Colyer announced his candidacy for governor, according to AdImpact.
Of the $433,000 booked for this month, about $230,700 has been funneled into the Wichita/Hutchinson television market, which covers western Kansas.
About another $101,000 went into the Kansas City market, about $20,600 went to Topeka and about $6,100 went to the Pittsburg/Joplin, Missouri market in southeast Kansas.
The buy uses an ad featuring comments President Donald Trump made about Colyer at a 2018 political rally in Topeka where he called him “one helluva governor.”
Trump made the comments a couple months after he endorsed Kris Kobach in the 2018 GOP primary for governor over Colyer.
The endorsement was seen as tipping point for Kobach when he won the primary that year.
Colyer has been a staunch supporter of Trump’s since at least 2023, or earlier, when he endorsed Trump for a second term as president.
State records show that Kansas 1st was formed Feb. 5 as 501(c)(4) nonprofit, meaning it doesn’t have to disclose its donors. The directors were appointed April 23.
The records list three directors of the group, including two with ties to Colyer.
One director is Tim Keck, who in 2014-15 served as chief counsel to Colyer when he was lieutenant governor.
Keck also served as secretary for the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services in Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration.
Another director is Brant Laue, who served as chief counsel to Colyer as well as Brownback.
State records show that the group was formed to educate “the electorate and legislative bodies on public policy issues including healthcare, market economics, and tax policy in
line with the policies of the Trump/Vance Administration.”
It also said its mission was to “encourage participation in government and political affairs, and promote such other charitable, civic, and educational endeavors as may be permitted” under the federal tax code.
Other Republican candidates have spent money on ads that have run on social media or streaming services, but not to the extent of the ad buy for Colyer.
In October, Johnson County businessman and GOP gubernatorial candidate Philip Sarnecki started running a digital ad urging reluctant Republican lawmakers to draw election boundaries for members of Congress.
And former Wichita school board member Joy Eakins has been running ads on streaming services, YouTube and digital outlets.
No other major Republican or Democratic candidate – or social welfare groups supporting them – have run ads on broadcast media so far as the campaign moves into the new year.
