Derek Schmidt, who was elected to represent the 2nd District in 2024, aligns himself with President Donald Trump. His Democratic challenger Don Coover says Congress should worry more about the affordability of housing, food and health care.
Libertarian candidate John Hauer will also appear on the November ballot. He doesn’t expect to win, but he’s running to rally for a smaller federal government.
Democrats have a shot to win control of the U.S. House in November, but the 2nd District is seen as a safe seat for Republicans. The seat has not been held by a Democrat since Rep. Nancy Boyda lost reelection in 2008 after a single term in Congress.
But since that 2006 election, the district has been redrawn. Critics of the map say the district was gerrymandered, but the Kansas Supreme Court said it was constitutional. In 2024, Schmidt beat Boyda by nearly 19 percentage points.
Schmidt has the clear lead in fundraising. He has raised almost $1.5 million in campaign donations. Coover raised about $750,000. Hauer does not take donations.
Derek Schmidt — Republican candidate (incumbent)
Political experience: The incumbent U.S. Representative from Independence, Kansas, has spent the majority of his career in elected office. He served in the Kansas Senate from 2001 to 2011. He was majority leader six of those years. He served as Kansas attorney general from 2011 to 2023.
Schmidt listed his accomplishments from his time as attorney general as challenging parts of the Affordable Care Act, fighting emissions regulations and opposing vaccine mandates.
Schmidt won the Republican nomination for governor in 2022 and lost to Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly by two percentage points. He briefly worked at the Husch Blackwell law firm before running for the open 2nd Kansas Congressional District seat in 2024, which he easily won.
Schmidt serves on the House armed service, judiciary, and small business committees.
What else? Schmidt spent six years working for the late former Kansas U.S. Senator Nancy Kassebaum. The three-term GOP senator co-chaired Schmidt’s initial campaign for Kansas attorney general in 2010, but she endorsed his Democratic opponent for governor in 2022.
Schmidt was seen as a moderate Republican in the beginning of his career. Recently, he’s aligned himself more with President Donald Trump. He challenged the 2020 election results, advocated for “Biden-proof” borders, and sought to ban transgender athletes from school sports.
Schmidt secured Trump’s endorsement in his gubernatorial run, and again for his congressional run in 2024 and this year’s re-election.
Platform: Schmidt is running again to maintain the Republican majority in the U.S. House, specifically to solidify Trump’s policy objectives into federal law.
His campaign site focuses on three main issues: border security, public safety and economic relief.
He co-sponsored the Laken Riley act that made it easier for federal immigration officials to detain and deport people without legal status who have been charged with a crime. He, and a Democrat from North Carolina, introduced legislation to strengthen police background checks by making it easier for the agency to access them. He introduced a bill that would require federal agencies to report on how antitrust laws are working, and helping small businesses compete.
Don Coover — Democratic candidate
Political experience: Coover is a political newcomer.
He wants to head to Congress to be the voice of Kansans feeling the impact of policies — especially ones that affect affordability. The Galesburg-based Democrat said his decision to run “isn’t about party or politics.”
What else? He’s a veteran, veterinarian and rancher.
Coover graduated from West Point. He toured in Korea as a pilot and cryptographic operations officer. After serving in the U.S. Army, Coover became a veterinarian through Kansas State University and re-entered the Army to provide his veterinary services. He now helps to run the family business, which specializes in veterinary services for farm animals.
He spent most of his life as a registered Republican, and describes himself as “middle of the road.”
Platform: Coover’s website says he wants to “move our country in the right direction for my granddaughter and for Kansans.” How? By ending what he sees as political corruption in D.C. — like political insider trading and no-bid contracts, and boosting rural hospitals by protecting Medicare.
He’s especially concerned with affordability for Kansans. He said the One Big Beautiful Bill, with its tax changes for wealthy Americans, exacerbated pre-existing affordability issues.
“We have shifted the tax burden,” Coover told KCUR. “Not on those people that have the most ability to pay, and certainly have had the most success in their financial lives utilizing the structure that the United States has paid for. That’s illogical. I think immoral, and I think it’s stupid.”
John Hauer — Libertarian candidate
Political experience: Hauer has never held elected office, but he has held positions for Libertarian organizations. Hauer is a veteran and works as a delivery driver and at a warehouse. He is based in Topeka.
“I’m running because there’s really nobody else that I know of that really represents my people, a.k.a., working class, the working poor,” Hauer told KCUR.
What else? He is not taking any donations for office because he is not doing it to win — he’s doing it to spread a message.
“The federal government doesn’t really do a whole lot for us,” Hauer said. “I understand that it’s there to protect our borders. But … most of what they’re doing beyond protecting our borders is wasting our money and causing inflation.”
Platform: Hauer wants a smaller — but not non-existent — federal government. He is especially tired of tax cuts for wealthy people and corporations. While he doesn’t want to tax them more — he wants to get rid of the federal income tax entirely — he certainly doesn't want to tax them less.
Hauer also wants to get rid of all foreign military bases. He was deployed to Iraq twice.
“I’ve always been sort of anti-war in principle,” Hauer said. “After seeing it in person, I’m never going back to pro-war.”
