ON FOX FIRST: Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab launches a campaign for the state’s Democratic-held governor’s seat in 2026which will announce its run exclusively on Fox News Digital on Wednesday.
Schwab, who is that? running as a Republicanis seeking to replace Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, who will have held the seat for eight years when her term ends next cycle.
“We must return to the values and principles that have always fueled us and given me the strength to lead in Topeka,” Schwab, the two-term Kansas secretary of state, said in a news release shared with Fox News Digital. ‘I have a proven conservative record. And the heart of a servant. It is important for Kansas to take the right path.”
Schwab was first elected to the Kansas House of Representatives in 2002 and served as speaker pro tempore of the state’s House of Representatives before being elected secretary of state in 2018.
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Scott Schwab is running for Kansas governor in 2026. (Schwab for Kansas)
“A Christian, a father and a supporter of the American dream. I believe that if you want to do something great, you must throw off the chains that hold you back,” Schwab said at his official campaign launch. “For Kansas, that’s big government, and that’s why I’m running for governor.”
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Schwab noticed his connection President-elect Donald Trump on several key issues as one of the reasons he is making a bid for governor.
Schwab specifically noted in his first campaign ad that if elected, he plans to stop China from buying farmland, increase security related to elections and reduce property taxes.
Scott Schwab, who won the Republican primary for Kansas secretary of state, addresses a watch group during an election night event on August 7, 2018 in Overland Park. (John Sleezer)
The candidate, who made his Christian faith a central point of his campaign launch, also emphasized that he wants the US to return to the “values that have always fueled us.”
Although the state currently has a Democratic governor, the leadership is overwhelmingly Republican, with two Republican senators and three of the four congressional seats held by Republicans.
Kelly, who served two terms as governor, insinuated she might not seek re-election in the 2026 midterm elections.
“It’s really time for me to move on and let others come and serve,” Kelly told KCUR’s Up To Date in 2024.
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite/File)
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, the recently elected chairman of the Republican Governors Association, said the 2026 Kansas race will be a top priority for the Republican Party.
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“I’m going to be very committed, you can be assured, to making sure that my (successors) are Republicans,” Kemp, who will be term-limited next cycle, previously told Fox News Digital.
“We will work with the Trump administration and many other people to make sure that this happens not only in Georgia, but in other states across the country, in places like Kansas, where we now have a Democratic governor. places like Arizona, where we have a very good chance of winning the governor’s races.
