• KS-02: Former Rep. Nancy Boyda unexpectedly kicked off a comeback bid shortly before filing closed Monday when she announced that she would seek the Democratic nod to reclaim Kansas' 2nd District, which GOP Rep. Jake LaTurner is retiring from after just two terms.
Donald Trump carried this seat in the eastern part of the state 57-41 in 2020, but Boyda may have to concentrate on her Aug. 6 primary before she can focus on this uphill battle. Her opponent is businessman Matt Kleinmann, who was on the University of Kansas basketball team that won the national championship in 2008.
Boyda, as we profiled in detail five years ago, defeated GOP Rep. Jim Ryun in a truly shocking 2006 upset for what was already a conservative seat. But she faced a tough battle to keep it the next cycle against state Treasurer Lynn Jenkins and, unlike Kleinmann, she did not have a winning 2008.
The congresswoman made the fateful decision to convince the DCCC to cancel a $1.2 million TV reservation, arguing that "Kansas voters should control Kansas campaigns" and that the state should be able to “run our election without Washington interference." The NRCC responded to this unilateral disarmament by continuing its offensive, and Boyda lost 51-46 as John McCain was carrying her seat 55-43.
Boyda, who was one of just five Democratic House members to be defeated in this historically blue year, soon became a cautionary tale. DCCC chair Chris Van Hollen told a press conference months later that the former congresswoman had left him a contrite voicemail that she wanted him to play for any vulnerable members who were thinking about rejecting the committee’s help.
Boyda herself took a post at the Department of Defense early in the Obama administration, but she didn't quite give up on winning elected office again. The Democrat launched a bid for the U.S. Senate seat in 2019, but she raised little money and dropped out well before the new year.
There were no big last-minute surprises, meanwhile, on the GOP side, where five candidates are campaigning to replace LaTurner. The frontrunner appears to be former Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who lost a tight race to Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly in 2022. The other notable names are Jeff Kahrs, who is LaTurner's former district director, and businessman Shawn Tiffany.
The only poll we've seen here was a mid-May co/efficient poll that showed Schmidt dominating with 44% as Kahrs and Tiffany respectively took just 4% and 3%. (The firm told Daily Kos Elections that its survey was conducted for a private client "but not any candidate or candidate’s committee.")
Tiffany, though, is hoping to get his name out with an opening ad campaign that emulates the 1961 Jimmy Dean song "Big John," with a narrator describing him as a heroic cowboy as a choir chants, "Big Shawn."
And for anyone who still hasn't had their share of 2008 nostalgia after seeing Boyda's comeback, this isn't the first time that a campaign has parodied this classic. Shawn's effort bears more than a passing resemblance to the "Big John" video that Texas Sen. John Cornyn ran that year, a presentation that attracted national mockery but did little to stop the Republican from winning reelection.