NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Kansas State Senator Dennis Pyle is running as an Independent for governor, even though he has run and won his Senate seat as a Republican. He believes that an independent run from the right gives him the best chance to win.
"I would just point to the history of the elections," Pyle said. "2002, Tim Shallenburger vs. Kathleen Sebelius. How did she win? The left wing of the Republican Party always votes for the most left candidate. He lost. Sebelius won. 2006, Jim Barnett, much like Derek Schmidt, very much a moderate-liberal Republican. He ran. Who deserted him? The left wing of the Republican Party was loyal to Kathleen Sebelius. Jump forward in time to Kris Kobach. Kobach runs against Laura Kelly four years ago. Who deserted Kobach? The left wing of the Republican Party. Who has already endorsed Laura Kelly? Bill Graves, former employer of Derek Schmidt. Former employer Nancy Kassebaum, former U.S. Senator, has already endorsed Laura Kelly. Sheila Frahm, former Lt. Governor, former U.S. Senator, endorsed Laura Kelly. Hayden...I can go on, Alicia Salisbury, former Republican National Committeewoman. Sandy Praeger, Insurance Commissioner. These are all Republicans, but they are left wing Republicans and they are supporting the most left wing candidate, that's Laura Kelly. Derek can't even hold his base."
He believes he would have won the Republican primary if he had run there, but that he likely wouldn't have won the general in a two-way race.
"History tells me that if I had ran in the primary and won, why should I expect different results than what we've seen in the past?" Pyle said. "The left wing of the Republican Party is already hemorrhaging on Derek and leaving him. They've already, a lot of them, endorsed. You would have even more of them. If I were on the ticket in this primary, I think the results would be similar to the Kobach and Kelly race. They are just not going to vote for a conservative like Dennis Pyle. You'll win the primary. You'll spend the money to do it and we could have done it, I believe that."
Pyle believes that if the conservatives all go his way, he wins a three-way race.
"Principle over party, that's part of what we're doing here," Pyle said. "We're running on principle. I'm the only candidate that's come out and said, I'm for strong borders nationally. I'm also for strong borders in Kansas. I do not want us to become California. We are not going to be the abortion capital of the Midwest, if I'm governor. I'm going to close the doors to non-resident Kansans coming here to get abortions, right away. We're going to stop that."
It's worth noting that Gov. Laura Kelly won in 2018 with just 48% of the vote to Kobach's 43%. Independent Greg Orman got 6.5% of the vote in that cycle.
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