Joins field with Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Gov. Laura Kelly
by Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector
Topeka — State Sen. Dennis Pyle filed paperwork to launch an independent campaign for Kansas governor and enter a race that features Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.
Sen. Pyle, a Hiawatha farmer among the Senate’s conservative members, said he submitted documents Monday night to initiate the campaign. Sen. Pyle and running mate Kathleen Garrison of Haysville would need 5,000 petition signatures to be on the November general election ballot.
He would be the fifth candidate for Kansas governor in 2022. In addition to Schmidt, Republican Arlyn Briggs of Kincaid is a GOP candidate. Kelly is seeking reelection to a second term against Emmett resident Richard Karnowski, a Democrat.
“I am a God-loving American, devoted to the Constitution and protecting our children, and I am entering this race to give Kansans a choice,” Sen. Pyle said.
Pyle, 61, has served in the Kansas Legislature for nearly 20 years. He was in the Kansas House from 2001 to 2003, but lost a race for reelection. He assumed a seat in the Kansas Senate in 2005. In 2020, he easily won reelection to his northeast Kansas seat in the Senate with more than 70% of the vote.
During the 2022 legislative session, Sen. Pyle was among Republican senators stripped of committee assignments for refusing to vote for the congressional redistricting map supported by Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover.
C.J. Grover, the campaign manager for Schmidt, said Pyle was a “fake conservative” engaged in a “vanity” campaign for Kansas governor.
“Dennis Pyle is a fake conservative who just wants attention,” Grover said. “He stood with pro-abortion legislators to nearly derail the Value Them Both amendment. He sided with Laura Kelly, Hillary Clinton’s lawyers and the ACLU against our Republican majority in the Legislature on redistricting maps. Now, he’s trying to help Laura Kelly and Joe Biden again with a vanity run for governor.”
In 2018, Pyle entered a crowded GOP field in an attempt to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, in the 2nd District. He finished fifth in the 2nd District’s Republican primary won by Steve Watkins, who served one term before ousted by U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner.
In announcing his congressional candidacy four years ago, Pyle said “no matter how crowded the field, there is always room for a genuine, proven conservative who represents rural Kansas values.”
Pyle also challenged Jenkins in the Republican congressional primary in 2010. He lost to Jenkins, but earned about 43% of the vote.
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