By Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA – Secretary of State Scott Schwab takes exception to anyone insisting on a state criminal investigation of Kansas elections based on the assumption evidence of misconduct waited to be found.
Schwab, the state’s top election official and a candidate for the Republican Party’s nomination for governor, said Kansas elections were secure, fair and accurate. He was aware GOP rival Doug Billings said if he were elected governor in 2026 that he’d order the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to launch an inquiry into election irregularities. Billings asserted anyone who said Kansas didn’t have election integrity issues was lying or ill-informed.
“He’s not attacking me,” Schwab said on Kansas Reflector’s podcast. “He’s attacking the lady that’s retired, that volunteers at church and wants to volunteer as a poll worker. That’s who he’s attacking. And, if that’s who you’re attacking, your character is seriously in question. If you’re calling her a liar, OK, that’s between you and God.”
He said anyone running for Kansas governor should be familiar enough with state government to know the KBI was under jurisdiction of the attorney general – not the governor.
Schwab, 52, of Overland Park, graduated from Fort Hays State University, worked for a medical equipment company and entered the Kansas House in 2003. He unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination to a U.S. House seat in 2006, but returned to the Kansas
House in 2009. He left the Legislature after elected secretary of state in 2018 and was reelected to that job in 2022.
He declared his Republican gubernatorial candidacy in January and revealed he was being treated for cancer in March. He said testing showed a lung abnormality that required surgery.
“They said, ‘Wow, we caught this thing really early. We’re rounding up to stage one lung cancer, but we’re gonna go in, take some significant margin, and you’re good,’” he said.
2026 Governor’s Race
Aside from Schwab, the most prominent politician preparing for the GOP gubernatorial primary in 2026 was former Gov. Jeff Colyer. He replaced Gov. Sam Brownback when he resigned in early 2018 to work in the first administration of President Donald Trump. Colyer, who lost the GOP primary for governor in 2018 to Kobach, was recently endorsed by former Trump cabinet Secretary Ben Carson.
Schwab said Colyer hadn’t held public office for years, and “he doesn’t win primaries.”
Other potential GOP candidates for governor included Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, state Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt, former Johnson County Commissioner Charlotte O’Hara, businesswoman Stacy Rogers and former Wichita school board member Joy Eakins. Only Billings has paid the filing fee to be a candidate.
Schwab said it was significant U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, U.S. Reps. Derek Schmidt, Tracey Mann and Ron Estes and former U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner wouldn’t enter the governor’s race.
“Suddenly, what was considered a very crowded field doesn’t get nearly as crowded,” Schwab said.
He said candidates expecting to mount a competitive campaign would need to raise about $1 million this year.
Taxes, Abortion
Schwab said he would campaign on a platform that included a commitment to lowering the property tax burden on Kansans. He said the county-by-county property appraisal process needed to be updated. He previously criticized the 2025 Legislature and Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly for not taking substantive action to get a handle on property taxes.
On abortion rights, Schwab said he remained an opponent of abortion. He said a fetus deserved personhood status and legal protections afforded Kansans at birth.
“The question we’ve got to ask yourself is, when does a person get access to constitutional and legal protections? Is it after they’re born? A minute before they’re born?” he said. “Personally, I believe when there’s implantation into the uterus, and then because there’s a connection to the mother, that exists. That’s my personal religious belief.”
The Kansas Supreme Court issued an opinion in 2019 that said the Bill of Rights of the Kansas Constitution contained a fundamental right to bodily autonomy and that women in Kansas had the right to end a pregnancy. In 2022, Kansas voters rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have nullified the state court decision.
“I know where I would like to go, but it’s unrealistic, and I get it. I want everybody in the world to love Jesus. That’s unrealistic. I get it. I accept that. Does that make me an extremist? No, no,” he said.
Election Reforms
Schwab said he was comfortable with Kansas voters casting ballots ahead of Election Day, but would prefer ballots were deposited in drop boxes operated by county election offices rather than relying on the U.S. Postal Service.
“There’s a few people that’ll say, ‘Hey, Election Day should be Election Day. Nothing early. Nothing by mail.’ But that’s an extreme minority. There’s three ways to vote in Kansas: In-person on Election Day, in-person early or vote with an advanced mail ballot. We don’t need more ways.”
Kansas lawmakers approved a bill requiring special elections to be conducted in early March, at the August primary or the November general election.
Schwab welcomed a law granting access to information from the Kansas Department of Revenue’s motor vehicle division to better identify noncitizens registered to vote. In addition, legislators said online obituaries could be used by election clerks as a reference source for removal of deceased individuals from voter registration rolls.
Schwab said he was disappointed the Legislature declined to enact his recommendation to make it a crime to harass an election worker.
“These are volunteers who are getting paid, but not much,” the secretary of state said. “To threaten them when they’re just doing what they were trained to do, it’s pretty ridiculous. Some people are just mean.”
