Kansas Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt initiates Republican campaign for governor

Yahoo

09-07-2025

Kansas Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt, shown taking the oath of office in 2023, is a candidate for Kansas governor in 2026. The Republican previously served in the Kansas Senate. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)
TOPEKA — Kansas Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt launched Wednesday a campaign to win the Republican Party's nomination for governor.
Schmidt worked for more than four decades as a pharmacist and served in the Kansas Senate before elected state insurance commissioner in 2018. She was reelected in 2022 by a wide margin.
'Throughout my personal and professional career, I have a track record of serving Kansans and actually getting things done,' Schmidt said in a statement. 'If elected governor, my top priority is the people of Kansas and making their lives better.'
Schmidt joined other prominent Republicans, including former Gov. Jeff Colyer and Secretary of State Scott Schwab, in the GOP primary scheduled for August 2026.
Colyer, who became governor in 2018 after resignation of Gov. Sam Brownback to take a position in the first administration of President Donald Trump, said Schmidt's candidacy wouldn't deter his effort to unite the Kansas GOP behind a pro-Trump agenda.
'Welcome to the race, Vicki Schmidt,' Colyer' statement said. 'Never Trumpers deserve a candidate, too.'
Interest in the 2026 contest for Kansas governor will be driven by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's inability to seek reelection to a third term.
Schmidt's statement said as insurance commissioner she lowered business costs by more than $75 million. She asserted she was known for 'her work ethic, scrutiny of government operations and customer service approach to serving Kansans.'
In 2023, she publicly shared her diagnosis of breast cancer and made use of the personal health challenge to encourage women to get yearly mammograms.