Mike Brown (Kansas politician)

Brown started his political career volunteering for Tim Shallenburger's unsuccessful 2002 bid for governor, and two local county commissioner campaigns in 2004 and 2008. Then in 2017 he decided to run for commissioner himself and was elected as the Johnson County commissioner. He would serve in this office until 2021 following his defeat in a 2020 re-election bid.[3] He has also served in a series of minor roles including as Johnson County's parks and recreation commissioner, a member of the Kansas State Workforce Development Board, the Kansas Black Chamber of Commerce, a board member of the Homebuilders’ Association of Greater Kansas City, and the associations president in 2007.[2][1]

In the 2022 Kansas Secretary of State election, Brown challenged incumbent Secretary of State of Kansas, Scott Schwab, claiming that Schwab was a RINO and part of the establishment. Brown launched a competitive campaign, however, he narrowly lost with 44.76% to Schwab's 55.24%. Brown would demand a recount which failed to significantly alter the percentages of the race.[4][5][1]

Despite the setback in the primary, Brown continued to champion himself as a true conservative against the entrenched moderates of the Kansas Republican Party. Stating that the 2020 election had been stolen, opposing COVID-19 restrictions, and calling on Ronna McDaniel to resign.[3][5] In 2022, then Party chairman, Mike Kuckelman campaigned actively for Derek Schmidt during the 2022 Kansas gubernatorial election. Schmidt's defeat marked the second time in a row that the moderate Republicans split the ballot for governor, allowing a Democrat to win. Kuckelman's response to the defeat, attacking Republicans who voted for Dennis Pyle, was seen as a cheap scapegoat to the larger problem that the establishment moderate Republicans can't seem to win the office of Governor. Facing criticism from several prominent state politicians, including state senators Mark Steffen and Alicia Straub as well as the president of the state senate, Ty Masterson, Kuckelman did not seek re-election to the office of chairman. Brown emerged in the resulting chairman election as the anti-establishment and conservative candidate, while Helen Van Etten, National Committeewoman and Presidential elector, emerged as the candidate for the moderates.[5] Despite Kuckelman campaigning hard for Van Etten, Brown would narrowly win with 90 votes to Van Etten's 88 to be elected 68th Party Chairman.[6][3][1]