Kansas congressional candidates lean on prominent supporters in 2nd District race

TOPEKA — Democrat Don Coover and Republican Derek Schmidt stood with partisan allies as their congressional race in Kansas’ 2nd District entered the stretch run.

Coover, a southeast Kansas veterinarian and former U.S. Army pilot, on Monday welcomed to Leavenworth former U.S. Sen. Jon Tester of Montana. Schmidt, the incumbent U.S. House member and a three-term state attorney general, was on stage Monday night in Park City for the Republican Party’s barnstorming rally hosted by President Donald Trump.

“This is going to be one of the elections we’ll talk about for 50 years because, hopefully, we are going to change the direction … and get back to the middle of the road,” Coover said. “We need a Congress that assumes their responsibilities.”

Coover said Jan. 6, 2021, rioting at the U.S. Capitol was a “very disappointing” moment for him. He said it offered a glimpse of what transpired once Trump was elected to a second term in 2024.

“I don’t see anybody in Congress putting a brake on this,” Coover said. “I find that enormously alarming.”

On Friday, Cook Political Report shifted the 2nd District of Kansas from “solid Republican” to “likely Republican” given voter frustration with economic conditions and evidence of Trump’s shrinking favorability.

Schmidt was elected in 2024 to the eastern Kansas district of the U.S. House. He said the election of Trump two years ago enabled the federal government to pivot away from Democratic President Joe Biden. Trump’s victory led to sealing of the southern border, adoption of federal tax cuts, reduction in crime and strengthening of the military, Schmidt said.

“My friends, we have made a lot of progress,” Schmidt said. “Don’t be distracted by the noise. There are problems left to solve. We are not going to solve what troubles America by turning around and putting in charge the people who caused many of the problems.”

He urged Kansans to take part in the Nov. 3 election because the alternative could be Democratic Party leadership of the U.S. House or U.S. Senate.

“We can say we meant it two years ago when America and this state said we are going in a new direction and solve problems rather than wring our hands about them,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt was recently endorsed by the National Federation of Independent Business’ PAC in recognition of his voting record on behalf of small businesses.

Tester, a Montana farmer and Democrat who served in the U.S. Senate from 2007 to 2025, said the upcoming election was an opportunity for a course correction. He said Coover’s defeat of Schmidt would help reshape policy in Washington, D.C.

“You guys have an incredible opportunity,” Tester said. “This is somebody that, when he goes back there, he’ll change the way people think. Why? Because he’s a man of the soil. We need folks to understand rural America.”

On Tuesday, Coover was endorsed by the End Citizens United organization working to reverse the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision blocking federal restraint of dark money expenditures in politics.

“Corporate money in politics is stopping Congress from making any progress on lowering prices,” Coover said. “Our government needs to be accountable to working people, not wealthiest donors at the top.”