Kansas’ Republican House and Senate committees and Gov. Laura Kelly’s PAC invested hundreds of thousands in competitive legislative races.
BY: ANNA KAMINSKI
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s PAC and the Kansas Republican Senatorial Committee have poured around a half-million dollars each into competitive legislative races across Kansas, campaign finance reports released this week show. The Republican House Campaign Committee spent almost $1 million.
More than $470,000 from Kelly’s Middle of the Road PAC has been spent since the August primary on Democrats embroiled in battleground races, according to records published Monday through the Kansas Secretary of State’s campaign finance reporting system. The Republican Senatorial committee spent more than $498,000 during the same time period on the four races at risk of flipping to Democrats. The Republican House committee has spent its $978,000 since August on advertising-related costs for a dozen candidates and the state Republican party, finance records show.
Republicans have held a supermajority in the Kansas House since 2010, and Senate Republicans have held a supermajority since 1997. Democrats must flip two seats in the house and three in the senate while holding their existing cache in order to break the supermajorities.
The Senatorial committee’s treasurer, Michelle Schroeder, said the group’s spending was “focused solely on protecting and expanding our Republican supermajority.”
Kelly, a Democrat, launched the Middle of the Road PAC in August 2023 to back moderate candidates, from either major party, and in an attempt to break the Republican legislative supermajority. Recipients of the nearly $500,000 were 12 Democrats. Those expenditures are just a fraction of the nearly $1.5 million the PAC has spent since late July.
Senate District 5 incumbent Sen. Jeff Pittman, a Leavenworth-area Democrat, received the highest cumulative dollar amount from the Middle of the Road PAC. Election forecasts favor a Pittman win over his opponent, Republican Jeff Klemp, of Lansing, by a thin margin. The senatorial committee spent almost twice as much on Klemp as Middle of the Road spent on Pittman.
Mike Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of State during the Trump Administration and former Kansas GOP congressman, endorsed Klemp on Oct. 30.
Both the Middle of the Road PAC and the Senatorial committee spent on the other three toss-up Senate races in Johnson County. Middle of the Road PAC also spent on another Johnson County-area district, Senate District 35, with an open seat that’s been held by the same Republican for the past decade.
Middle of the Road PAC spent the least on Rep. Jason Probst, a Hutchinson Democrat running for reelection. His Republican opponent, Kyler Sweely, was recently the subject of a Wichita police investigation and online backlash after a video circulated in which he appears to jump on and hold a pillow over the head of a motionless woman on a bed. The Republican House committee spent just under $9,000 on Sweely while Middle of the Road spent more than $13,000 on Probst, according to campaign finance records.
Will Lawrence, senior advisor for the Middle of the Road PAC, said in a statement that the PAC “invested in hard-working candidates” and those “who aligned with Governor Kelly’s values.”
“The PAC deployed a strategic program that included mail, digital ads, and support for GOTV (get out the vote) efforts,” Lawrence said. “Supporters of our PAC can rest assured their investments were well spent.”
Representatives for the Republican House committee did not respond to Kansas Reflector’s requests for comment Friday.
The final day for voting in legislative races as well as for U.S. president is Tuesday.
