Two Republican nominees for Kansas House withdraw from ballot due to health complications

TOPEKA — The withdrawal of two Kansas House candidates from the November general election requires Republican officials to promptly select replacement nominees.

Rep. Clarke Sanders, the incumbent Salina Republican, had his name removed Wednesday from the 69th District ballot due to medical issues resulting in his hospitalization. He has held the House seat since 2021 and intends to remain in office until his current term expires in January. In the August primary, Sanders was unopposed.

“My health has taken an unexpected critical turn, and I need to focus on healing,” Sanders said in a statement.

GOP nominee Cody Ward of Logan, who won a three-person race in August in the 110th District, likewise stepped aside due to health challenges. He was nominated to fill the vacancy created when Rep. Ken Rahjes, an Agra Republican, chose not to seek reelection to the House. Rahjes was the lieutenant governor running mate for Scott Schwab, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for governor.

Schwab, who serves as the Kansas secretary of state and the state’s top elections officer, approved written requests to withdraw that were submitted on behalf of Sanders and Ward.

Under Kansas law, a candidate’s name could be withdrawn in a general election due to severe medical hardship affecting the candidate or a member of the candidate’s immediate family. The request of the secretary of state must be accompanied by a document signed by a physician attesting to the health condition. In addition, Kansas law would allow candidates to voluntarily exit the ballot if that person died or no longer resided in the state.

The Saline County Republican Party scheduled a convention Sept. 10 to select a replacement for Sanders.

In 2025, Saunders was removed as vice chairman of the House Higher Education Budget Committee by House Speaker Dan Hawkins because Saunders declined to support a special session of the Legislature to redraw the state’s congressional district boundaries. Hawkins sanctioned all 10 Republicans who refused to endorse the special session encouraged by President Donald Trump to make it more difficult for U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a Democrat representing a Kansas City-area district, to win reelection in November.

“The party is grateful for the years of service Clarke Sanders has given our community,” said Brenda Smith, chairwoman of the county GOP.

The individual chosen to step in for Sanders would campaign against Democratic nominee Miranda Bachman of Salina. In the 110th District of northwest Kansas, the replacement for Ward would be opposed by Democrat Mark Schaukowitch of Plainville.

“It is with my sincerest best wishes that I thank Cody Ward for his time as my opponent in this election cycle,” Schaukowitch said. “While the election will continue with another candidate, I’d like to take this time to ask everyone to send Cody and the Ward family some well wishes for a swift recovery.”

In a campaign video, Ward said he sought election to the Kansas House as an advocate of “rural, traditional values.” He said he supported the Second Amendment to the Constitution and opposed abortion rights.

“Because these are values that matter to us out here,” Ward said. “We believe in self-reliance.”

In August, he won the Republican primary with 43.6% of the vote to the 34.2% earned by Max Dibble of Phillipsburg and 22.3% for Marvin Matchett of Norton.