Can Don Coover win? Inside the underdog Democratic candidate running in KS-02

Don Coover doesn’t exactly speak like a typical congressional candidate. By his own account, he talks bluntly.

“The idea that you would have an ICE agent in Scott City, Kansas, walk into a place of business with a mask on their face carrying a loaded shotgun is totally unacceptable to me on any scale, by any standard,” Coover said. “So, hope that's not too blunt.”

Coover is running in a race that, by any statistic, should be unwinnable. A long-time Republican and now Democratic candidate in Kansas’ second congressional district, he’s running in an area that Donald Trump won by close to 20 points in 2024 and that handily sent Congressman Derek Schmidt (R-KS) to the U.S. House.

Major political ratings agencies all rate the race as safely or likely Republican.

That doesn’t deter Coover.

“At some point in time, you have to decide, this is a hill I'm willing to die on,” Coover said in an interview with Citizen Journal. “And so, it's one of those things where if you don't stand for something, then you don't stand for anything, and I'm not prepared to accept that.”

In a bookstore in Humboldt, Kan., population 1,847, on Sept. 8, Coover spoke to a small crowd that peppered him with questions ranging from censorship and banned books to the economy, agriculture, and the ICE raids that took place in southwest Kansas just weeks prior.

He ran late to the stop – the demands of the campaign schedule meant he was stuck at another event in Parsons – but he walked in and wasted no time charming the crowd by telling stories from his time ranching in Galesburg and serving abroad in the U.S. Army.

Coover says his experience in running a ranch operation, a cattle genetics company and a veterinary practice gives him unique insight into the pressures that both farmers and ordinary Americans are facing. But it’s farmers who voted for Republicans in the last election, he says, that are feeling the changes most acutely.

“What I see are people, once they're exposed to an issue that impacts them directly, yes, I see [flipping] common. Now, if they haven't been exposed or impacted directly, then you don't see them talk about it because it's not something that's foremost on their mind,” Coover said. “It costs you thousands of dollars in a day for some random decision that somebody makes to send people out to terrorize a community.”

It’s no surprise, then, that the issues his campaign is running on mostly relate to rural communities – health care and agriculture tariffs.

Coover blames the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and Trump policies for hitting rural health care institutions financially, which predominately rely on Medicaid and Medicare, and significantly reducing soybean exports, hitting American farmers’ pockets.

Despite that, Coover is quick to say that this campaign is not about politics. Despite what he calls a broken political system, he said he would work to build consensus with others, something he still believes is possible.

“It has to be possible because we don't have an option,” Coover said. “And more importantly, I believe there's a likely possibility—not 100%—but I think there's a likely possibility that what we're going to find is those people that sat on their ass and don't try to come up with positive, constructive solutions to issues that everybody sees are going to be out of a job in two years.”

There are some positive signs that the campaign points to. Coover’s campaign has disavowed corporate PAC money, and a spokesperson for Coover said that more than 90% of donations have come from grassroots sources.

An internal poll in August claimed that after simulated positive head-to-head spending, Coover was in a statistical tie with Schmidt. That same poll said that before simulation, Coover trailed by single digits.

Coover admitted, though, that two of his biggest problems will be name recognition and young voter turnout, both of which he chalks up to the amount of money he’s been unable to raise.

There are a variety of theories about why young people aren’t voting in elections. Regardless of the reason, an analysis by Global Change Data Lab shows that those under 34 are the least likely to vote in the U.S. It’s a trend that Coover has noticed.

“Most of the time when I go to these meetings, it's a bunch of gray-hairs like me sitting in here saying, ‘Yeah, OK, we're concerned,’” Coover said. “They have the least to be concerned about, but they are the most sensitive to [the current political environment] because it is so abnormal.”

Citizen Journal couldn’t confirm fundraising numbers more recent than July, when Schmidt outraised Coover by a factor of nearly two-to-one. The next round of campaign finance filings aren’t due until October 15.

Still, Coover is optimistic.

“It's one of these deals where in the end, the money matters because it facilitates your ability to get votes,” Coover said. “But, if you get enough votes, the money doesn't matter.”

Citizen Journal has reached out to Congressman Schmidt’s campaign to coordinate an interview.

Correction: A previous version of this article said that Coover was coming from his campaign event in Pittsburg. He was coming from Parsons.

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