Candidate Doug Billings wants to implement DOGE framework in Topeka
By TIM CARPENTER
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — Conservative podcaster and MAGA enthusiast Doug Billings is the lone person to formally file as a candidate for the Kansas Republican Party’s nomination for governor in 2026.
Billings, not a household name in Kansas politics, said in an interview Monday that he was a reluctant candidate in a GOP field that could grow substantially as Secretary of State Scott Schwab, Senate President Ty Masterson, state Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt, former Gov. Jeff Colyer, former Johnson County Commissioner Charlotte O’Hara and others make decisions to join the ballot or stay on the sideline. No Democrat has officially entered the race.
“The truth is, honest to God, I don’t want to run,” Billings said. “We need a strong conservative governor in that office. We need a politician who’s going to tell the truth.”
Billings, who worked in human resources before starting “The Right Side” podcast five years ago in Olathe, said he would implement at the state level the federal DOGE framework embraced by President Donald Trump and adviser Elon Musk. He said the state’s economy would flourish by cutting unnecessary spending and by diminishing income and businesses taxes, including the potentially unconstitutional property tax.
“Through the Kansas Department of Government Efficiency, I will root out fraud, waste and bureaucracy across state agencies,” he said.
Targets of his budget ax would include administrative costs in public schools, fraud in poverty and unemployment benefit programs, transportation project cost overruns, ill-advised economic development incentives and operational inefficiency in prisons. He vowed to scan state agencies large and small for waste.
Billings said his Catholic values required that he provide leadership in the movement to curtail abortion rights in Kansas. He would expand the state’s support for anti-abortion pregnancy resource centers and faith-based adoption agencies as well as enact policies reflecting a “shared commitment to the dignity of every human life.” At minimum, he said, the state ought to enact and enforce a law forbidding abortion after detection of a fetal heartbeat.
The Kansas Supreme Court declared a woman’s decision to terminate a pregnancy a fundamental right anchored in the Bill of Rights of the Kansas Constitution. In 2022, voters in Kansas rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have nullified the state Supreme Court’s opinion on abortion. Abortion remains legal in Kansas despite the U.S. Supreme Court decision striking the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.
God, guns, voting
Billings said he would strive as governor to restore Christian values that inspired the nation’s Founding Fathers and to breath new life into founding documents written by those men. He said school classes would start with a moment of private prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, which would reinforce “our unity under God.”
“Kansas must return to its roots as a society grounded in faith, morality and reverence for God,” he said. “Not as a theocracy, but as a republic that honors its Christian heritage with pride and conviction.”
He said his administration would be a bulwark against attempts to erode the “God-given” right to bear arms. He would oppose burdensome regulations, excessive fees and bureaucratic red tape that infringed on the ability of law-abiding citizens to possess firearms.
Diversity, equity and inclusion programs or “woke” agendas in K-12 schools would be eliminated to avoid advocacy for “divisive ideologies,” Billings said. The state should invest tax dollars in ways that supported decisions of parents to send their children to public, private or home schools, he said.
In terms of election security, Billings said he would order the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to launch inquiries into past election “irregularities” and decisions that undercut election fraud investigations.
Secretary of State Schwab, who said he would run for the GOP nomination for governor, has repeatedly contended Kansas elections were fair and accurate. However, Billings said “anyone telling you that we don’t have election integrity issues in Kansas is either vastly uninformed or is lying to you.”
“I will work to eliminate electronic voting machines, which are vulnerable to manipulation and erode public confidence,” Billings said. “In their place, I will implement watermarked paper ballots.”
Schwab, O’Hara
In January, Schwab was the first Republican to confirm plans to seek the August 2026 nomination for governor. He was elected the state’s top election official in 2018 and won reelection in 2022. He served 14 years in the Kansas House representing an Olathe district. In March, Schwab said he had been diagnosed with cancer in the lung. He said the cancer was detected at an early stage and surgery would be relied on to combat the health threat.
Schwab said his campaign would concentrate on necessity of the state to bring property assessments and taxation under control. He expressed alarm the 2025 Legislature did little to moderate state property tax collections, despite bipartisan promises after the 2024 session to tackle the issue.
“When it came time to lead, both the governor and leadership came up short,” he said.
O’Hara, a former Johnson County Commission member and one-term Kansas House member, said in February that she would campaign for governor because it was time to have a “true, proven conservative” leading the Republican supermajority in the Legislature. She vowed to deal with wasteful state spending and “ludicrous corporate welfare” in the form of business subsidies, ban DEI in government institutions and “get schools back on track.”
“I cannot stand silent and watch small businesses and homeowners be destroyed through high property taxes or watch our children drown in the sewer of wokeism in our schools,” she said.
O’Hara lost a 2024 reelection campaign for county commission to a Democrat after objecting to COVID-19 restrictions and opposing vaccination mandates.