Independent Kansas governor candidate Dennis Pyle hits airwaves — with help from Democrats

A Democrat group has gone on the airwaves with radio ads promoting Sen. Dennis Pyle, running as an independent in the governor's race, a move intended to siphon support away from Attorney General Derek Schmidt, the Republican nominee.

Pyle's campaign began airing radio advertisements in October, but his effort now has gained a boost from American Center, a Washington-based group, which began airing ad47s on several Kansas radio stations this week, documents filed with the Federal Communications Commission show.

The FCC filings show the group shares the same address as the multinational law firm Perkins Coie, which routinely represents national Democrats, and shares an address with a host of other left-leaning political and lobbying groups.

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Representatives for the American Center didn't immediately respond to a message left with a number listed on the group's website.

The group also has sent text messages and mailers supporting Pyle as a "real conservative" and calls Schmidt's record on immigration issues "soft" and "like a liberal, not a Kansas conservative."

Outside observers long expected Democrats or allied groups to spend in support of Pyle in a bid to encourage conservative voters to support him over Schmidt, a bid to help Democrat Gov. Laura Kelly. Pyle was coy last week when asked if his campaign would be making media buys.

"I'm pretty excited about things I'm hearing right now," Pyle said. "There is a lot going on with us on social media and out there and the reports I'm hearing on the ground are good."

Dennis Pyle could be decisive factor in tight Kansas governor race

Pyle on Monday reported raising $54,605 between late July and mid-October, giving him more than $90,000 available, though he spent only $26,156 of that, mostly on the radio advertisements. That is a fraction of the funds raised by Schmidt and Kelly.

Despite declaring both Schmidt and Kelly to be overly liberal, Pyle's campaign hasn't gained significant traction — but even if he pulls a slim percentage of votes from Schmidt, it could still be enough to affect the razor-thin race.

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Schmidt's campaign has long sought to paint Pyle as a longshot candidate running to feed his own ego, arguing a vote for the Hiawatha state senator was tantamount to a vote for Kelly.

Shannon Pahls, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party, said Democrats "should be ashamed of themselves" and that "Kansans won't be fooled."

"National Democrats are desperately meddling and misleading voters in Kansas," Pahls said in a statement. "They know Laura Kelly is losing ground, so they trot out Hillary Clinton's law firm to fund a last-minute effort to lie to Kansans."

But some have speculated that Schmidt has attempted to shore up his support his conservative base, voters who might be won over by Pyle.

His campaign shared a video last week filmed by former President Donald Trump reiterating his support for Schmidt. He also has attacked Kelly over allegations that Kansas Department of Commerce was used to fund all-ages drag shows, despite the agency and organizers saying this wasn't true.

"The question is whether what the Schmidt campaign is doing is in response to Pyle or whether it's an intense base strategy that is just firing full force in the last few days," said Bob Beatty, a professor of political science at Washburn University.

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Derek Schmidt says he's confident he has conservative support

Speaking with reporters last week, Schmidt said he was unconcerned about his staunch supporters turning out to vote, saying "we have given them a solid conservative option and I am confident they're going to take it."

"As we come down the homestretch, it's always important to make sure that all of our supporters are fully engaged, and turn out," Schmidt said. "We do that every election and we focus across the spectrum of our support."

Nationally, Democratic groups backed far-right candidates in Republican gubernatorial primary races in Maryland and Illinois, as well as a number of U.S. House races, as they believed those individuals would be easier to defeat in November.

This strategy has been tried in Kansas as well. In 2020, a Democratic-aligned group spent millions to promote former Secretary of State Kris Kobach in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. The effort eventually failed, and the race was won by current U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall.