Kansas state Sen. Dennis Pyle launches independent campaign for governor after leaving GOP
Kansas state Sen. Dennis Pyle, a conservative who recently left the Republican Party, began campaigning for governor as an independent on Tuesday.
Pyle has been a state senator since 2005, and a run by him could pose a challenge to Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, the Republican candidate, who avoided a contested primary only to now face a potential general election opponent on his right flank.
Schmidt is running against Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, one of the most vulnerable Democratic governors up for re-election this year. His campaign quickly called Pyle a “fake conservative” in response to his campaign. The Kansas Republican Party called Pyle’s campaign a publicity stunt.
Pyle on Monday appointed a campaign treasurer for a run for governor – a first step that allows a would-be candidate to begin raising and spending money. To qualify for the November general election ballot, Pyle will need to gather 5,000 signatures.
Pyle, a hard-right senator, appears most likely to attract conservative voters. A right-wing candidacy would stand in contrast to the last significant independent campaign for governor, the 2018 run of centrist Johnson County businessman Greg Orman, who ultimately found little electoral success.
Pyle said he was running “due to the continual gross negligence in protecting and assisting citizens.”
“I am a God-loving American, devoted to the Constitution and protecting our children, and I am entering this race to give Kansans a choice,” Pyle said in a statement Tuesday.
He also announced his running mate, Clearwater school board member Kathleen Garrison.
Pyle’s record
The Hiawatha state senator has run for higher office before, in 2018 running for Congress in the 2nd District. He came 5th in the Republican primary, winning 12.08% of the vote.
In the Kansas Senate, Pyle has built a reputation for clashing with party leadership. He has pushed for more restrictive voting laws. In February Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, stripped Pyle of most of his committee assignments after he voted against the GOP drawn congressional redistricting map.
Pyle is a grain and livestock farmer in Northeast Kansas. He attended Grace College of the Bible in Omaha.
Pyle’s treasurer is state Rep. Randy Garber, a Sabetha Republican, according to campaign finance records. Garber is among the most conservative Republicans in the Kansas House, and has offered legislation to ban same-sex marriage and ban abortion..
Pyle didn’t appear to publicly announce a campaign on Monday. Online records show the websites pyleforgovernor.com and pyleforkansas.com were registered on June 2 and May 18, respectively, but they remain unused.
Schmidt has been the presumptive Republican nominee for governor since last year, after former Gov. Jeff Colyer dropped out of the race in August, citing a cancer diagnosis. That allowed the party to avoid a potentially bitter internal struggle, but also meant there was no months-long fight for primary voters, who tend to be more conservative than the party and electorate as a whole.
Speculation within Kansas political circles earlier this year occasionally centered on whether Schmidt would eventually draw a primary challenger. The candidate filing deadline passed last week without any significant GOP candidates stepping in.
In a statement, Schmidt’s campaign manager, CJ Grover, slammed Pyle for his votes against GOP-drawn redistricting maps and attempts last year to change the date voters would decide on an anti-abortion constitutional amendment.
“Dennis Pyle is a fake conservative who just wants attention,” Grover said. “Now, he’s trying to help Laura Kelly and Joe Biden again with a vanity run for governor.”
KFL PAC, the political arm of Kansans for Life, accused Pyle of “playing games with the lives of preborn babies and their mothers.”
Kelly’s campaign didn’t immediately comment. Emma O’Brien, a spokesperson for the Kansas Democratic Party, said Pyle’s candidacy shows Schmidt has problems with his own party. “It’s clear there’s no confidence in Schmidt’s ability to be Kansas’ next Governor,” O’Brien said in a statement.
In modern Kansas, no independent or third-party candidate has come close to winning an election for governor. But enough voters cast their ballots for them that they can affect close elections.
In 2018, independent and third-party candidates collectively won just over 9% of the vote. During the race, Democrats expressed fear that Orman, who ultimately received 6.5% of the vote, would draw voters who would otherwise vote for Kelly, though after the election it appears more likely Orman drew more voters away from Republican Kris Kobach, who was seen by many as too extreme.
Libertarian Keen Umbehr won 35,206 votes in 2014 – a little more than the margin of victory that year between Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and Democrat Paul Davis.
This story was originally published June 7, 2022 at 9:19 AM with the headline "Kansas state Sen. Dennis Pyle launches independent campaign for governor after leaving GOP."
