Pat Proctor, a Republican state representative from Leavenworth and a professor at Wichita State University, is running for Kansas secretary of state in the Nov. 3 general election. Proctor represents District 41 in the Kansas House and chairs the House Elections Committee.
Proctor, a retired Army colonel with 25 years of service including deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, said he is running to restore confidence in Kansas elections. In a candidate questionnaire, he said his military service shaped his view of the office.
"During my 25 years in the Army, I served in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, where people don't believe in the ballot box to solve their problems," Proctor said in his questionnaire response. "They don't believe in civil processes or the rule of law. So they pick up guns and they shoot each other to solve their problems."
Candidate information
- Office sought: Kansas Secretary of State
- Party: Republican
- Current office: State Representative, District 41, Kansas House of Representatives (since 2021)
- Residence: Leavenworth, Kansas
- Family: Wife, Aree; two children, Amy and Jonathan; two grandchildren
- Education: Doctorate in history, Kansas State University (2014); master's in military strategic studies, U.S. Army War College (2017); master's in theater operations, U.S. Army School of Advanced Military Studies (2008); master's in strategy, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (2006); bachelor's in mechanical engineering, Purdue University (1994)
- Endorsements: National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) in Kansas; Kansas Chamber of Commerce
Experience and public service
Proctor served in the U.S. Army from 1989 to 2019, retiring as a colonel. He has worked as an assistant professor in the homeland security program at Wichita State University since 2019, according to his questionnaire response. He also co-owns restaurants in Leavenworth and Manhattan with his wife and runs ProSIM Company, a military simulation firm he founded in 1998.
In the Kansas House, Proctor chairs the House Elections Committee and the Joint Committee on Kansas Security. He serves on the Board of Advisors to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
On the issues
Election security and voter confidence
Proctor said Kansas elections are secure but argued the state must address vulnerabilities before they are exploited. He said he has used his committee chairmanship as a platform for residents to raise concerns, working to educate voters where concerns are misplaced and pushing to close gaps where safeguards are lacking.
He said he carried and passed the SAVE Kansas Act, which requires the secretary of state to use a federal database maintained by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to identify noncitizens on voter rolls. Proctor said the law's first use found more than 20 noncitizens on the rolls, including the former mayor of Coldwater, who he said had been voting as a noncitizen for nearly three decades. The law includes due process protections for eligible voters, he said.
Proctor also sponsored a constitutional amendment on the November 2026 ballot that would change the Kansas constitution's wording from "every" citizen can vote to "only" citizens can vote, according to KCUR.
Mail ballot deadline
Proctor said he carried the repeal of the three-day grace period for mail ballots. A judge blocked the repeal July 16, the Court of Appeals upheld that July 28, and the Kansas Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal July 31. He said that during the 2024 primary, nearly 1,000 ballots received during the grace period lacked a postmark and could not be counted, citing the office of Secretary of State Scott Schwab. Requiring all ballots to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day, as 32 other states do, removes the postmark requirement, Proctor said.
He said he twice carried legislation to add two days to early and mail-in voting, but House Democrats blocked both efforts.
Differences from opponent
Proctor said his opponent, Democrat Jennifer Day, told Douglas County Democrats in October 2025 that she thinks it is "unfortunate" that noncitizens cannot vote in Kansas. Proctor said he disagrees and pointed to the SAVE Kansas Act and the citizens-only voting amendment as his response.
Kansas voter registration is available online through the secretary of state's office. Early voting begins Oct. 14.
