Political Money Rankings of Kansas PACs, July 2024

Kansas PACs spent about $2.6 million so far this year

Aug 05, 2024

Most Kansas candidates, party committees, and political action committees (PACs) were required to file campaign finance reports recently with the Secretary of State in advance of the primary election on Tuesday.

Kansa Native American “Ad Astra” warrior with bow and arrow is the statue atop the Kansas Capitol in Topeka. The Kansas state motto is “Ad astra per aspera” (to the stars through difficulties).

These reports can can be viewed online at the Kansas Governmental Ethics web page. But these online reports are difficult to digest. A few are even handwritten.

Campaign finance reports were recently filed by July 29 covering the period from Jan 1, 2024 through July 25, 2024.

The focus of this article is the ~200 Kansas PACs, and the money they raised and spent this year.

The 171 PACs filing reports started with about $6.7 million in the bank. The PAC reports documented raising about $3.1 million this year, leaving nearly $9.8 million available for the primary election.

These PACs then spent about $2.6 million in advance of the primary leaving about $7.2 million in the bank for the November general elections.

Shown next are the “top 25” PACs based on money raised, money spent, and money in the bank. There is a great deal of variability across all the PAC reports.

Top 25 Kansas PACs (July 2024)

Totals for 171 PACs

Verify these numbers and inspect all details of the July report by downloading this Excel file.

Kansas PACs 2024-07

35.4KB ∙ XLSX file

Download

PAC contribution and expenditure reports filed prior to the Aug. 6, 2024 primary election. Three summary numbers were extracted and used to rank all PACs.

Download

This Excel file has two columns with a hyperlink to the Statement of Organization and a link to the July report on the Ethics web site.

Final Rank

The “Final Rank” is based on the ranking of the product of the individual three rankings. The intent is to roughly weigh the three components equally: money raised, money spent and cash on hand.

Examples:

Middle of the Road PAC: rank product 1 * 3 * 1 = 3. Overall rank #1.
Kansas Realtors PAC: rank product 2 * 2 * 2 = 8. Overall rank #2.

Table Notes

Analysis is based on campaign finance reports on the Ethics Commission web site on Aug. 2, 2024.
Because of transfers between PACs, there can be double counting in the money raised and spent.
PACs filing termination reports showing small amounts of money (<$30) were ignored. PACs filing “Affidavits of Exemption” for having $500 or less in contributions or expenditures were ignored.

Comparison to Past Election Cycles

Indicators of a PAC’s strength: money raised, money spent, cash on hand. [The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is used to show inflation over the years.]

Large Donors, Large Payments, Comments

I focus on out-of-state money, and large money payments or expenditures. For now “large money” means $5000 or more.

See comments on selected PACs below:

Amberwave PAC. $10,000 received from The Bluestem Fund (Topeka); $5000 from Garten Trust (unknown location); $5000 Pipefitters Local #533 Volunteer Political Fund (KCMO) ; $10,000 from the DRIVE Committee (DC). This PAC was launched by Johnson County Chair of Board of County Commissioners, Mike Kelly (D), to steer Johnson County Government.

X posting announcing launch of Amberwave PAC by Mike Kelly (D) to steer Johnson County Government.

Kansans for a Progressive House. $15,000 received from IBEW PAC Educational Fund (DC); fuzzy font, pp. 8-9 almost unreadable; $25,002 sent to New Blue Interactive (Bethesda, MD).

Kansans for Excellence in Education. Sally Cauble , Treasurer, is co-founder of United Kansas Party.

Kansas Bankers Association PAC. $25,000 from Kansas Bankers Association Federal PAC (Topeka); $5000 from Community Bankcorp (Chanute); $5075 from First Kansas Bankshares (Hutchinson); $250 from People Bank & Trust (McPherson); $8000 to Right Way Kansas Action Fund (Topeka); $5000 to ABA Voter Education (Baltimore, MD); $5000 to Kansas Republican Senatorial Committee (Topeka).

Kansas Contractors Assn PAC. $21,500 from Foley Equipment Co. (Wichita); $8000 form Marynell Popst (Scandia); $5300 from Troy Sporer (Oakley); $8500 from Bayer Construction (Manhattan); $8250 from Sporer Land Development (Oakley); $11,350 from AM Cohron & Son (Emporia); $7750 from Chad Girard (Wichita); $9250 from Ronald Wilson (Towanda); $8000 from Midwest Concrete Materials (Manhattan); $16,400 from Venture Corp. (Great Bend); $5000 from Pearson Construction (Wichita);

$5000 to Kansans for a Democratic House (Topeka); $5000 to Senate Democrat Committee (Topeka); $5000 to Republican House Campaign Committee (Topeka); $5000 to Kansas Republican Senatorial Committee(Topeka); $14,885 to Giveback Sports (Cincinnati, OH).

Kansas NEA PAC. $5388 to Classy Inc (Phoenix, AZ); Kansans First Inc. (Lecompton); $10,000 to BlueStem Fund (Topeka); $10,000 to Middle of the Road PAC (Overland Park).

Kansas Realtors PAC. $5000 from Kansas Association of Realtors (Topeka); $10,000 from Realtors of South Centeral Kansas (Wichita); $103,275 from unitemized; $5000 to Kansas Senate Democrats (Topeka); $5000 to Republican House Campaign Committee (Topeka); $5000 to Kansans for a Democratic House (Topeka); $5000 Kansas Republican Senatorial Committee (Topeka); $66,306 to National Associatoin of Realtors (Chicago); $35,959 to Kansas Association of Realtors (Topeka); $12,071 to Wichita Realtors PAC; $14,203 to Kansas City Realtors PAC (Leawood).

Lift Up Kansas PAC. $10,000 from Koch Industries (Wichita); $5000 from Ron Estes for Congress (Wichita); $5000 from Kansas Bankers Association PAC (Topeka); $5000 from Kansas Automobile Dealers Election Action Committee (Topeka); $150,000 to Lift Up Kansas, Inc (Topeka, nonprofit; officers: Ray Merrick, Greg Lakin, David Matthew Billingsley).

Middle of the Road PAC. See separate article: Is largest Kansas PAC “Middle of the Road”?

X posting announcing launch of Middle of the Road PAC by Gov. Laura Kelly (D) to steer Kansas government.

PAC of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. Giving $5000 or more to this PAC: Polsinelli, Evergy, Hallmark, Dickinson Financial Corp, McGowan Gordon, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Shook Hardy Bacon, Van Trust, AT&T; Expenditures of $5000 or more by this PAC: American Dream PAC, KC Chamber, MO Chamber of Commerce.

Prairie Fire. $90,000 from The Concord Fund (Vienna, VA; President: Gary Marx). Attorney General Kris Kobach is PAC chair.

Restoring Our Nation (RON) PAC. Termination Report. $5000 received from David VanderGriend, Scott Schwindaman, C. Alan Lieber, Bruce Davison, Thomas Ward, Debbie Ward; $39,994 sent to Keep Kansas Red PAC; $11,552 to Team Estes; $8655 to Republican Strategies.

Service First PAC. $5000 each from Koch Industries (Wichita), Kansas Rural Independent Telecoms PAC (Topeka), Ron Estes for Congress (Wichita).

The Bluestem Fund. $50,000 to Bluestem Foundation of Economic Freedom (Topeka); $10,000 to Amberwave PAC (Overland Park). Founded by Kathleen Sebelius in 2000.

The Kansas Truth PAC. $25,000 from Kansas Truth Caucus (Shawnee; Officers: Michael Thompson, Stephen Owen, Renee Erickson, Patrick Penn).