Colin McRoberts

I’m proud to represent my neighbors

I wasn’t born in Kansas. I chose it. And I’m going to keep choosing Kansas.

I was born in Texas, on the southern end of the Ogallala Aquifer–the same one that waters Kansas farms. My father’s career was federal law enforcement, and it left me with a deep respect for the value of the institutions and traditions the GOP is destroying today.

My own career has been about problem solving. I began as a lawyer, fighting in the courtroom to protect family businesses from fraud. From there I went into business myself, advising clients around the world as an internationally recognized expert in negotiation. I worked on some of the most difficult and complex deals, helping Fortune 500 companies, unions, diplomatic teams, and government bodies make better deals under the toughest conditions–exactly what Congress and Kansas need now.

Many years ago, when my wife and I were choosing where to start our family, Kansas was our first choice. We have lived in Lawrence ever since, where we live in a joyfully crowded house with our extended family. We stay busy with work, parenting, and our community. My wife and I are both blessed to teach at the University of Kansas: I am an award-winning professor of negotiation and business law at the School of Business, and she is a scientist and bestselling author. Our son loves to ride horses and bikes around his native Kansas.

I lived in Kansas for a long time without being involved in politics; I was not even a registered Democrat at first. But earlier this year I went to see Senator Roger Marshall’s town hall in Oakley, at the far western end of the district. I saw him walk away from his own town hall because he could not answer obvious, important questions from his own constituents. I saw him refuse to talk to Kansans, or even care about Kansans, just like Tracey Mann and other incumbents. It it was time to do something. I’m just a regular person, not a politician or a wealthy man. But it’s time for regular people to stand up and create a change, because we can’t trust our politicians to do it for us.

We have not had a capable representative in the First District for a very long time. It’s becoming impossible to ignore the effects. Tariffs and inflation are raising costs for Kansans while the collapse of markets and the lack of a farm bill rob our producers of vital income. Congress has been asleep while the executive branch illegally fires thousands of valuable employees so that incompetent talking heads can run their agencies into the ground. Law enforcement has been corrupted to serve political interests rather than keep Kansans safe. Kansas universities have lost the support they need to educate our students and create new medicines and other vital technologies.

Our current representative has supported and loyally voted for every part of this crisis. He refuses to take responsibility for the disastrous results, or even be honest about them with us. He has lost touch with his neighbors who don’t share his tremendous wealth and power, so he hides from his own constituents and relies on partisanship and gerrymandering to keep his seat safe.

That means that this is a campaign we can’t lose. I’m fighting for my Kansan neighbors. I’m fighting to remind the partisan pushover incumbent that he works for us, not the national party in DC. I’m fighting to remind the First District that we can choose a stronger representative to be a check and a balance in government, as the founders intended.

The First District is not party property. It belongs to us, not a party or a politician. Together we’ll create something that hasn’t been seen in generations: a competitive election in the First District, where the best candidate can win. 

And with your help, I will.