Democratic candidate in U.S. Senate race opens arms to Kansas Republicans lost ‘in the wilderness’
Jason Hart appears for a March 16, 2026, podcast recording at the Kansas Reflector newsroom in Topeka. Hart is seeking the Democratic nomination in this year's U.S. Senate race. (Photo by Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)
TOPEKA — Jason Hart plunked himself into the political world in early March by quitting his job as an assistant U.S. attorney, switching his party affiliation, joining a scrum of candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, and warning another candidate not to enter the race.
The transition from prosecuting child abuse to political novice hasn’t been an easy one for the Wichita resident, especially without a campaign manager.
“I’m not sure that a campaign manager, though, would help me out, because what I have observed is the campaign manager is the handler that kind of tries to prevent you from being your authentic self,” Hart said. “And I’m just not really keen on that, so my campaign manager might hate me.”
Hart joined the Kansas Reflector podcast to talk about his background and views on federal policy. He defended his assertions that he is the best Democratic candidate in the race because he is a straight, white, Christian man, and that a competitor’s military service “pales in comparison” to his own public service as a prosecutor.
“There are many Republicans who are in the wilderness right now,” Hart said. “They are sort of like, ‘the Republican Party that I grew up with is not the Republican Party right now,’ and they are really struggling with where their place is in the world. And they’re looking for someone who is someone they can vote for and not simply vote against. And I think that’s what I bring to the table.”
Hart is among eight Democrats fighting for the chance to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall.
Prayers and tears
Hart said he was born in Russell and raised in western Kansas, where he learned the value of not being a farmer.
“We had friends that worked out on a farm, and one summer when I was either 10 or 11, they sent me out there to work, and that was a real good motivation to go to law school,” Hart said.
He earned a law degree from the University of Kansas and practiced back home in Dodge City for a few years before taking a job with the Shawnee County District Attorney’s Office. He moved to the Kansas Attorney General’s Office and then, for the past 16 years, worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
He said the January killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis led to his decision — after some “prayerful and tearful discussions with my wife and family” — to quit his job and run for public office for the first time.
In February, he changed his party affiliation from independent to Republican with the intent of challenging U.S. Rep. Ron Estes for his 4th District seat in the GOP primary. Then, he said, he found out his friend Katy Tyndell was planning to run as as Democrat in that race, and he didn’t want to run against her.
There was another problem.
“My wife then tells me, ‘I’m not sleeping with a Republican,’ ” he said.
Hart said his initial concern was that Democrats might not like him because he is pro-law enforcement and friendly to the Second Amendment. But as he would explain to a rival, he viewed himself as the best candidate among the Democrats running for U.S. Senate because he is “white, male, Christian, hetero, 2A-friendly, LEO-friendly, and very clearly anti-pedo.”
He quit his job in early March so he could formally enter the race, and he has switched his affiliation to Democrat.
Email to rival
Hart sent an 1,800-word email on March 2 to Noah Taylor, a Wichita Democrat, inviting Taylor to become Hart’s campaign treasurer rather than enter the race.
To demonstrate his political connections, Hart pointed out: “As you probably know, my child’s head of school is Laura Kelly’s daughter’s best friend.”
After winning this year’s election, Hart said, Taylor could become his chief of staff. Hart reasoned that two years from now, Taylor would be better positioned to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran.
“You’d also have me cheerleading for you, which would be a considerable benefit,” Hart wrote in the email.
Then came the warning.
“I am highly motivated to beat the snot out of these guys. And I’m not particularly interested in anyone getting in my way as I do it,” he wrote. “But I’m not simply going to run folks over without honking my horn. This is me honking my horn and offering a ride. Get in, grab the map and let’s go. I hope you like Rage Against the Machine.”
Taylor, an Army infantry veteran who served in Afghanistan, announced his campaign last week.
“While your 8 years of military service is laudable, it pales in comparison to my 25 years of service,” Hart wrote. “When I’m at dinner parties, folks don’t politely say ‘Thank you for your service,’ but instead they exclaim, ‘Thank god for what you do, I couldn’t do it.’ ”
Hart explained the comment in his appearance on the Reflector podcast. He said serving in the military may involve shooting somebody or getting shot at, “or maybe you’re working back in the garage and you’re making sure the vehicles work. I don’t even know.”
That service is different from “holding the hand of a 5-year-old who’s going through trauma and helping their family get through this trauma, and I’ve been doing the holding the hand and trying to do that,” Hart said.
“And if somebody wants to tell me that I’m wrong for thinking that I’m a patriot for serving our kids, they can tell me that, and I’ll respectfully disagree,” he added.
In a statement, Taylor said he was proud of his military service.
“Roger Marshall has spent his time in D.C. insulting Kansas veterans by cutting our health care funding and blocking the PACT Act,” Taylor said. “I’ll hand it to Jason: Politicians like Marshall usually try to kiss veterans’ asses before screwing them over, but Jason’s cutting right to the chase.”
Policy views
Hart described President Donald Trump’s foreign policy, including the war with Iran, as “just distraction and chaos.”
Tariffs, he said, “are dumb,” and dismantling the U.S. Department of Education “makes us dumber.”
He said he is pro-choice on abortion, especially given his work with abused children.
And the killing of Pretti was “my breaking point” on immigration, he said.
He already was concerned about misdirecting border patrol and customs agents to carry out a mass deportation agenda. And, he said, he wasn’t happy about statements his boss — U.S. Attorney Ryan Kriegshauser — had made on the topic.
Hart’s pitch for why voters should choose him over the other Democratic candidates focused on his service as a prosecutor.
“That service has been as an advocate for your interests, and that’s what I plan to take to Washington, is to advocate for Kansas interests, not to argue for positions of a party,” Hart said. “Anybody who knows me knows I’m a free thinker, and I will speak my mind. I’m not going to have some campaign handler tell me what to say or what I can’t say.
“The reason why I’m here is because Kansans, at heart, have heart. They want to do the right thing. They know what the right thing is, and I think when they’re presented with the right person to do it, they’ll make the right choice. And I think the right choice is me.”