photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

The Douglas County Elections Office on West 23rd Street is pictured on July 13, 2022.

There are 12 candidates looking for the opportunity to unseat Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall in the upcoming primary election.

Nearly all of those candidates are Democrats, and Marshall will face off against Lawrence resident Pond Naramore, a Republican, in the primary. Kansas has only one U.S. Senate seat on the ballot in 2026.

Jason Hart

JASON HART (D)

Hart began his career in 2004 as a prosecutor in Shawnee County before joining the Kansas Attorney General’s Office in 2009 to handle child sexual exploitation and homicide cases statewide. In 2010, he became an assistant United States attorney for the District of Kansas, where he prosecuted Project Safe Childhood cases and other federal crimes for nearly 16 years.

Hart said an important issue he would hope to address, if elected, is providing children with robust and holistic education.

“Fully funding special education and Title I programs would lift the burden on local property taxes while simultaneously mitigating mental/physical health issues for kids, taking additional burden off families,” Hart said. “Conversely, the failure to provide for public education is like failing to care for your car – if you never change the oil or fill the tank, it isn’t going to run.”

Kevin Latz

KEVIN LATZ (D)

Latz received his undergraduate degree from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. After college, he worked for his Congressman and for the House Agriculture Committee in Washington D.C. He attended medical school and completed a residency in orthopedic surgery at KU and completed other fellowships in Toronto and Boston. He returned to the Kansas City area to work at Children’s Mercy Hospital, where he helped create the Sports Medicine Division.

Latz said the affordability crisis in Kansas is his top priority, and he wants to level out the playing field for the middle and working class. Latz added that he’s also passionate about supporting children by advocating for universal preschool to prepare students for success in school, limit social media use and improve gun safety regulations.

“College tuition should be more affordable and more accessible for those who wish to go to college,” Latz said. “Similarly, trade school opportunities should be an option for those that wish to make a living with their hands. In short, we should put our efforts and money where our mouth is when we say we love our children.”

Erik Murray

ERIK MURRAY (D)

Murray is a real-estate developer who was raised in Kansas City, Kansas. He graduated from Sumner Academy in KCK and is an entrepreneur. Murray said he’s on a mission to build a Kansas where hard work is rewarded “and every zip code gets a fair shot.”

Murray said he believes in universal healthcare, fully funded education, expanding access to housing, and repairing the immigration system by funding courts to create a “humane, efficient process for legal immigrants.”

“Immigrants start businesses, fill critical workforce gaps, pay taxes, serve in our military, and enrich our communities,” Murray said. “Beyond that, we must raise the minimum wage, protect democracy and civil rights, and break up monopolies and oligarchies.”

Noah Taylor

NOAH TAYLOR (D)

Taylor has served in the U.S. Army as an infantry grunt. He was deployed to Afghanistan, and he “saw firsthand what forever wars cost all of us.” After three years in the infantry, he served as a counterintelligence analyst in the U.S. Army Reserves while completing his degree at Wichita State University. He currently runs a small business that helps other local businesses grow and create jobs.

Taylor said it’s time to make life more affordable for families, meaning a tax cut for the middle class as well as stopping tariffs and conflicts in the Middle East, which are driving up the costs.

“Every American should also have access to health care they can afford,” Taylor said. “I’m focused on areas where we can quickly get relief to Kansans who need it, which means actions like extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits, expanding prescription drug price caps, and reversing Medicaid cuts, which disproportionately hurt rural Kansas.”

Adam Hamilton

ADAM HAMILTON (D)

Hamilton is a fifth-generation Kansan. He served as the founding pastor of Resurrection, a United Methodist Church he and his wife LaVon started. Hamilton earned his undergraduate degree from Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma and a master of divinity from Southern Methodist University in Univserity Park, Texas. He has also written 30 books on faith, leadership and public life.

Hamilton said, if elected, housing and healthcare would be amongst his top priorities. Hamilton said he has spent his life with families during some of their hardest times, and he knows how frightening it can be when people cannot afford the care they need.

“In the Senate, I would strengthen Medicaid, protect rural hospitals and community clinics, expand telehealth, invest in the health care workforce and lower the cost of prescription drugs,” Hamilton said. “Kansans deserve access to timely, cost-effective and affordable health care no matter where they live.”

Anne Parelkar

ANNE PARELKAR (D)

Parelkar has a bachelor’s degree in history from Lyon College. She has worked with children as a teacher, counselor and coach. Parelkar received her juris doctorate from the William H. Bowen School of Law in Little Rock, Arkansas, and is a member of the Kansas Bar Association and the American Immigration Lawyers Association. She has a law firm, Parelkar Immigration Law, LLC, which was established in 2021 and she practices immigration law and estate planning.

Parelkar said she would support policies that treat housing, food, and healthcare as basic necessities, lower costs by addressing monopolies and hidden fees, invest in innovation and medical research, strengthen workers’ rights to organize for higher wages through the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, and expand access to universal healthcare to reduce the financial burden of medical expenses.

“We need institutional reform to make government work for the people again,” Parelkar said. “It’s not enough to ‘return to normal’ when ‘normal’ has been failing average Americans for decades.”

Patrick Schmidt

PATRICK SCHMIDT (D)

Schmidt is a sixth-generation Kansan, and he graduated from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. He served as a Navy intelligence officer and he was posted at the Pentagon, where he worked on national security threats and foreign interference. Schmidt is currently a Democratic state senator from the 19th district.

Schmidt said he wants to fight to protect Medicaid from cuts like the ones in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” that put dozens of Kansas hospitals at risk of closing and push towards lower prescription drug and premium costs.

“And across the board, I’ll take on the special interests and price gouging that drive up costs for working families while corporations post record profits,” Schmidt said. “Kansans don’t need more excuses from Washington. They need a senator who fights for their bottom line, not Wall Street’s.”

The Journal-World reached out to the following candidates, but they did not provide responses to the questionnaire:

Roger Marshall

ROGER MARSHALL (R)

After graduating from Butler County Community College, Marshall received his bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University and his medical doctorate from KU. Marshall practiced medicine in Great Bend for more than 25 years and served in the Army Reserves for seven years.

Marshall has been a congressional leader on health care and agriculture policies, an advocate for pro-life issues, and supports the 2nd amendment. He also promotes U.S. trade around the world, according to his campaign website.

Damon Anderson

DAMON ANDERSON (D)

Anderson is the Shawnee-based founder and CEO of Tallgrass Freight Company. Anderson said he is running to represent Kansas because until systemic incentives that allow wealthy interests to shape policy gets addressed, meaningful progress on other issues will remain limited, according to his campaign website.

Sandy Neumann

SANDY NEUMANN (D)

Neumann earned her economics degree from the University of Chicago and an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School while working full-time. She built a successful career in financial services. According to her campaign website, Neumann wants to put the people of Kansas first by investing in middle-class families, protecting personal freedoms, and being a responsible steward of taxpayers’ hard-earned money.

Christy Davis

CHRISTY DAVIS (D)

Davis is a fifth-generation Kansan, and she’s a business owner, advocate, and public servant. She previously served as the Kansas Director for U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development. Davis wants to defend access to healthcare, strengthen public education, support farmers and rural communities, and pursue practical immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship and due process, according to her campaign website.

Michael Soetaert

MICHAEL SOETAERT (D)

Soetaert grew up in Spring Hill, and he attended Johnson County Community College and masterclasses at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and KU. He’s focused on strengthening democracy, expanding civil rights, and reducing the influence of money in politics.

Pond Naramore

POND NARAMORE (R)

The Journal-World was unable to contact Naramore, and there was no available information online.