Kansas U.S. House, U.S. Senate members to defend incumbencies against 25 challengers  

Posted June 2, 2026

From left, U.S. Reps. Tracey Mann and Sharice Davids, U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, and U.S. Reps. Ron Estes and Derek Schmidt are defending their seats against 25 challengers in the August primary election. (Photo illustration by Anna Kaminski/Kansas Reflector)

TOPEKA — Thirty candidates are running in August to represent Kansas in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, including 12 who are seeking to unseat Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall.

Of the 30 people who filed to run for federal elected office with the Kansas Secretary of State by the noon deadline Monday, 20 are running as Democrats.

Sitting Republicans in the U.S. House — Rep. Tracey Mann of the 1st District, Rep. Derek Schmidt of the 2nd District, and Rep. Ron Estes of the 4th District — are all running for reelection. So is Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids of the 3rd District.

A scroll of candidates from across the state will compete on Aug. 4 to get a spot on voters’ ballots in the Nov. 3 election. Many are running for elected office for the first time.

Two Lawrence Democrats, former federal employee Lauren Reinhold and business law professor Colin McRoberts, and one Republican, Craig Musser of Ellinwood, will challenge Mann.

Schmidt faces Democrat Don Coover, a veterinarian and veteran from Galesburg, and Republican Chad Young.

Democrat Sarah Preu of Fairway and Republicans Eric Jenkins, a veteran and former Shawnee city councilman, and Chase LaPorte, an Army veteran from Mission, are challenging Davids.

Estes faces four Democrats and Republican Frank McCollum of Fall River.

The Democrats are Chris Carmichael, an Army and Air Force veteran of Andover, Cole Epley, a 28-year-old in Bel Aire who serves in the U.S. Army Reserves, Ryan Gilbert, a family law business manager of Goddard, and Katy Tyndell, an oil and gas attorney in Wichita and a co-founder of political advocacy group Leading Kansas.

Per federal campaign finance reports spanning the end of March, the incumbents in each congressional race have out-raised their challengers by hundreds of thousands — or, in some cases, millions — of dollars.

In the U.S. Senate race, Marshall similarly out-raised his opponents by millions, according to federal campaign finance records up to March 31. He faces 11 Democratic opponents and one Republican challenger, Pond Naramore of Lawrence.

The candidates competing for the Democratic nomination are:

  • Damon Anderson is the Shawnee-based founder and CEO of Tallgrass Freight Company.
  • Christy Davis is a former federal agricultural official from Cottonwood Falls. She was among the first candidates last year to announce a challenge to Marshall.
  • Adam Hamilton is the Stilwell-based pastor of one of the nation’s largest United Methodist congregations. He raised $2 million the first two weeks after he declared his candidacy, according to his campaign.
  • Jason Hart, a former federal attorney from Wichita who specialized in prosecuting child abuse crimes, quit his job and switched his party affiliation in March to run against Marshall.
  • Kevin Latz is a physician from Mission Hills, specializing in pediatric orthopedic surgery.
  • Erik Murray is a real estate developer from Kansas City, Kansas, where he is part of the major project to redevelop the former Indian Hills shopping center.
  • Sandy Spidel Neumann is a former financial services executive from Mission.
  • Anne Parelkar is an Overland Park immigration attorney who was inspired to challenge Marshall after she confronted him at a town hall in western Kansas.
  • Patrick Schmidt, a state Senator from Topeka and former naval intelligence officer, filed his candidacy just hours before the noon Monday deadline, though he has been campaigning since early this year. Schmidt is one of the only candidates who has held public office. He attempted a run for the 2nd Congressional District in 2022.
  • Mike Soetaert is a former Wellington City Council member who has repeatedly run for public office.
  • Noah Taylor is a former Army infantryman now based in Wichita who is also a co-founder of the nonpartisan political advocacy group Leading Kansas.

Marshall was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2020, succeeding U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts. Before that, he represented Kansas’ 1st District for two terms, and he has aligned himself with both Trump administrations while in Congress. He lived in Great Bend, where was an OB-GYN. He has come under fire from constituents for his lack of public town halls and his ownership of a home in Florida.

Cook Political Report rates the U.S. Senate race and the U.S. House seats by Republicans as solidly Republican. Davids’ seat is listed as solidly Democratic. The U.S. Senate race is also listed as a safe Republican stronghold by Sabato’s Crystal Ball from The Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the occupation of Chad Young.

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