The Libertarian Party of Kansas nominated a slate of candidates for statewide, legislative, and county office at its annual state convention in Wichita last month, including three candidates who could help the party continue to retain its recognized status.
The party held its annual convention on April 25 at Prost Wichita. In a recent statement, the party said that during the event, registered members nominated candidates for U.S. Senate, state treasurer, commissioner of insurance, all four U.S. House districts, four Kansas House seats, and three county commission races.
The party’s statewide nominees include David Graham for U.S. Senate, Eric Lund for state treasurer, and Ric Koehn for commissioner of insurance. Those races carry additional significance because the party must receive at least 1 percent of the vote in at least one of those statewide races to maintain its recognized status.
Under Kansas rules, recognized parties other than the Democratic and Republican parties may nominate candidates for the general election by convention rather than through a primary. Kansas Libertarians have maintained that recognized status since 1992. While the party fell short of 1 percent in Kansas in the 2024 presidential race, the Kansas Secretary of State’s office clarified that year that the retention test does not apply to presidential candidates, leaving the party’s recognition intact.
The party also nominated Steve Jacob for U.S. House District 1, John Hauer for U.S. House District 2, Steve Hohe for U.S. House District 3, and Drew Cranmer for U.S. House District 4.
For the Kansas House of Representatives, Libertarians nominated Rob Hodgkinson in District 4, Andrew Frey in District 66, Dean Hayse in District 82, and Josef Trotter in District 96. They also nominated Aric Herman for Shawnee County Commission District 1, Olivia Hayse for Sedgwick County Commission District 5, and Kirsten Kuhn for Douglas County Commission District 5.
In addition to candidate nominations, the party elected a full slate of delegates to the Libertarian National Convention later this month in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and provided a list of names. Kansas will have 12 delegate seats at the national convention, one fewer than it had during the 2024 convention. The state party is also entitled to as many as 50 alternate seats under national party bylaws.
During its business session, the party also filled several Executive Committee roles, electing Mark Robinson as treasurer, Brent Cox as District 1 coordinator, John Hauer as District 2 coordinator, Mark Davis as District 3 coordinator, and Olivia Hayse as District 4 coordinator. It further noted that the chair, vice chair, and secretary roles were already filled by Hodgkinson, Graham, and Lund, respectively, and were not elected during the convention.
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