‘I’ll feel better about myself’: Kansas Republican makes second U.S. Senate run against an incumbent

LAWRENCE — In his youth, Arch Naramore had to leave Ottawa University after his stash of pot embarrassingly fell from his hat during a campus church service for students.

He looked back on that transfer to the University of Kansas as fortuitous, because he found a home in Lawrence that has remained a sanctuary for an independent, free spirit such as himself.

In an awkward public spectacle decades later, Naramore jumped into the Republican primary for U.S. Senate against incumbent Sam Brownback. Naramore discovered the obvious in 2004 — well-financed, politically connected incumbents have big advantages at the ballot box. Naramore attracted a measly 13% of the vote in the Senate primary and lost to Brownback by 244,000 votes.

Naramore, 74, said during a recent interview that he was keen for a fresh challenge. He decided it was time to mount a second campaign for U.S. Senate. From the left-leaning enclave of Lawrence, Naramore launched his irreverent candidacy against U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall.

While statewide ballots in the Aug. 4 primary election contain names of 11 candidates seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for U.S. Senate, only two signed up to compete for the GOP nomination. The options for Republican voters will be Marshall or Naramore.

“I want to win, right? Because I don’t have anything else to do. I’m getting tired of sorting all my pennies,” Naramore said.

Marshall, who was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2020, stands as a heavy favorite in the upcoming primary. He was elected to the U.S. House in 2016 after ousting U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp and was reelected in 2018. In 2020, he sought the U.S. Senate seat vacated by retirement of Republican Pat Roberts. In that U.S. Senate primary, Marshall outmaneuvered GOP rival Kris Kobach, who is now the state’s attorney general. In the general election, Marshall defeated by double digits Democratic nominee Barbara Bollier.

Marshall filed for reelection in January. As of March, he had $4.7 million in his reelection account.

“It’s been the honor of my lifetime to serve Kansas in the Senate,” Marshall said. “I promise to continue protecting our Kansas values and working with President Trump to restore the American Dream for future generations.”

A few objections

Naramore had alternatives in terms of being a candidate for public office, but he fixated on the U.S. Senate race based on disappointment with Marshall’s support for policies and practices of President Donald Trump.

Naramore said he was irritated Marshall went along with Trump’s reimaging of government, including Trump’s idea that he was above laws applied to others. Naramore objected to GOP support for legislation undermining access to SNAP benefits that feed lower-income Kansas families. He questioned Marshall’s endorsement of federal tax breaks designed primarily to benefit the wealthy. The president’s tariff policies backfired in ways that harmed the financial standing of Kansas farmers, Naramore said.

He expressed frustration with weakening of national vaccination programs that had saved American lives. He worried about the undermining of federal support for public education. Attacks on academic subjects labeled as diversity, equity and inclusion didn’t serve interests of Kansas higher education or K-12 schools, Naramore said.

“We’re going to take away the books?” he said.

Naramore said he took notice of news reports that Marshall considered his official residence to be a St. John property in southwest Kansas. He suggested Marshall’s functional residence was the senator’s $1.2 million home on the bay in Sarasota, Florida.

“I wish he’d stay there forever,” Naramore said. “What kind of representation is that for Kansas?”

Naramore also objected to Marshall’s participation years ago in a physician investor group that started Great Bend Regional Hospital. In Naramore’s view, and that of a political action committee that sought to undercut Marshall’s Senate campaign in 2020, Great Bend Regional Hospital operated as a predatory competitor of Great Bend’s nonprofit community hospital, Central Kansas Medical Center. The Central Kansas facility eventually faltered and transitioned to an out-patient clinic.

“I mean, you know, it’s just criminal. Take away the nonprofit hospitals?” he said. “Why would anyone not run against him? I guess I’ll feel better about myself for at least saying something.”

‘Ideal’ childhood

Naramore was raised in Wichita and described it as “an ideal life … compared to a lot of people.” His father was a banker and served as an officer in World War II. His mother served in the U.S. Army during World War II as a nurse in North Africa and Italy. She cared for Allied troops, German prisoners of war and partisan guerrilla soldiers.

Naramore’s brother, John, was a prominent anti-war activist at KU in the late 1960s. After dropping out of Ottawa University, Arch Naramore enrolled at KU. He bought a home, got married and had a family. In the 1980s, he was a student at Topeka Technical College. The 1993 flood along the Kansas River damaged his family’s home in the floodplain and lack of insurance created financial hardship.

He had jobs in construction and as a bookkeeper, operated a commercial flour mill, worked in the family printing business for about 20 years and until recently was employed as a housecleaner.

Naramore goes by his first name of Arch but used his middle name Pond when he filed as a candidate for U.S. Senate. It was an attempt to draw attention to Marshall’s reference on campaign materials to Roger “Doc” Marshall.

“I threw Pond in there this time because Marshall said, ‘Well, I want to have “Doc” on mine.’ That’s not his real name,” Naramore said.

On his filing form, Naramore listed [email protected] for his campaign email address. He said the “rhino” part was a reference to “RINO,” or Republican in name only. Among the GOP’s most conservative members, the label was intended to be a mark of shame. Naramore doesn’t see it that way.

“I’m a Republican. I’ve always been a Republican,” he said.