Tester stumps for Coover in tighter than expected race

Don Coover and former Senator Jon Tester spoke to a packed room in Leavenworth, Kan., about agriculture policy, gas prices, and the importance of the upcoming election on Monday, Oct. 19.

During an interview with Citizen Journal, Tester, who was elected as a Democratic Senator in Montana for 18 years, said that Congress needed more people like Coover, who is running as a Democrat for U.S. Representative in Kansas' 2nd congressional district against incumbent Rep. Derek Schmidt, R-Kan.

“You don't find candidates like Don everywhere,” Tester said. “Congress needs people who are well-grounded, Congress needs somebody who's got backbone, Congress needs somebody who's willing to stand up to both parties, and Don's that kind of guy.”

The two held their rally roughly 3 hours away from Park City, where President Donald Trump was holding a rally of his own in support of Senator Roger Marshall, who is facing a tighter-than-expected re-election battle. Both Tester and Coover had messages for Trump.

“I think he needs to revisit the tariffs and he needs to get out of the war in Iran,” Tester said.

“We need to come up with some kind of a healthcare system that meets people's needs out here in rural Kansas and rural everywhere else,” Coover said.

Both also had thoughts on Trump’s action to waive Russian oil sanctions, which has, for the moment, brought down gas prices. The AAA gas price average in Kansas has gas prices down roughly 20 cents from a month ago as of the time of publication, from $4.17 to $3.98.

“Anytime that you're going to help a ruthless dictator and what he wants to do in the country, it's a big mistake,” Tester said. “If he wants to really fix the price of gas, get the hell out of Iran.”

Coover said that the amount of oil that America is buying from Russia wouldn’t be enough to sate America’s appetite for fuel.

“It's one of these things where you don't provide aid and comfort to somebody that's just invaded their neighbor and tried to take over their entire country,” Coover said. “The fuel that Trump is buying from Russia is going to last about 15 hours in the consumption of America fuel. And that's shortsighted, meaningless, and it sends a wrong message to everybody that hears it.”

The KS-02 election has seen some building momentum in favor of Coover, with changes in the race from both Sabato’s Crystal Ball and Cook Political Report, both from Safe R to Likely R.

Coover’s campaign raised a little more than $500 thousand, in contrast to the roughly $300 thousand that Schmidt raised during the 3rd quarter of 2026, according to FEC filings. Schmidt still has significantly more cash on hand, roughly $1 million to Coover's roughly $450 thousand.

Still, both Tester and Coover said that young people, who would be around longer than the two septuagenarians, needed to be engaged this election.

“This election's more important for them than it is for me.” Tester said. “Truth is, they're living in this country for a lot longer than I'm going to live in this country.”

Coover added that young people trying to get a start in the agriculture industry were facing headwinds that were worse than normal in the current environment.

“The people that I work with in the [agriculture] industry, which includes a lot of a lot of younger producers and producers that are just trying to get started, they're incredibly apprehensive, and I would say almost discouraged, because what they see is they can't get there from here because margins are so thin, prices are so adverse, that they can't make enough money to pay the interest and service the debt and live on it,” Coover said. “And I am not overstating that a bit.”

Found a mistake? Have a news tip or feedback to share? Contact our newsroom using the button below:

Contact Us