Lawrence resident Scott Morgan enters Kansas secretary of state race

A Lawrence politician with ties to the city’s schools and to Kansas Republican power circles stepped into a race that could help decide whether United Kansas still appears on future ballots. Scott Morgan, a former Lawrence school board member and the new executive director of United Kansas, filed paperwork on May 21 to run for Kansas secretary of state.

The office carries outsized weight because the secretary of state is Kansas’s chief election officer. It also is one of four offices authorized by the Kansas Constitution, and its work is spread across almost 1,000 state laws. Those duties include administering elections, maintaining certain business records and publishing official state publications, making the race matter far beyond Topeka for Douglas County voters who depend on the office to help set the rules of the ballot itself.

Morgan’s candidacy also has consequences for the party behind it. Kansas law makes it difficult for new parties to gain recognition, requiring petitions signed by qualified electors equal to at least 2% of the vote cast for governor in the last general election. Recognized parties such as United Kansas do not nominate candidates through a primary election; they use caucus or convention rules instead. That means statewide runs like Morgan’s are not only campaigns for office, but also tests of whether a third party can hold onto its official place in Kansas politics.

United Kansas itself is the product of a broader centrist consolidation. In April 2026, the Free State Party and United Kansas agreed to operate under the United Kansas banner, and the party was reported to have 940 registered members in the prior November figures cited at the time. The merger gave the party a louder statewide identity, but also put pressure on it to show it can translate a small membership base into real election results. No Labels Kansas, another officially recognized party, ended its status on May 15 at the party’s request, and the secretary of state announced three days later that counties had been told to update voter records.

Morgan joined a 2026 secretary of state field that already included Democrats Jennifer Day of Mission and Samuel Lane of Shawnee, along with Republicans state Reps. Ken Rahjes of Agra and Pat Proctor of Leavenworth. He previously worked on the staffs of Republican U.S. Sens. Bob Dole and Nancy Landon Kassebaum, and he had earlier sought the office as a Republican in 2014.

The seat is open in a year when election trust remains a live issue. Incumbent secretary of state Scott Schwab is also running for governor and has defended Kansas elections as secure, fair and accurate. For United Kansas, Morgan’s bid is more than a long-shot run. It is a practical test of whether a Lawrence-based third party can keep its ballot line, its visibility and its voice in Kansas politics.