Mike Kuckelman is an American lawyer and politician from

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

. He served as the chairman of the

Kansas Republican Party The Kansas Republican Party is the state affiliate political party in Kansas of the United States Republican Party. The Kansas Republican Party was organized in May 1859. At the state level, the party is largely split between its moderate and co ...

from February 2019 to February 2023.

Early life

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, Kuckelman attended the private Maur Hill Prep School. Kuckelman then attended

Washburn University Washburn University (WU), formally Washburn University of Topeka, is a public university in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs as well as professional programs in law and business. The university enroll ...

, receiving a BBA in accounting in 1986. He then attended the

Washburn University School of Law The Washburn University School of Law is a public law school located on the main campus of Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. Washburn Law was founded in 1903. The school is accredited by the American Bar Association and has been a member of t ...

, receiving a J.D. and admittance to the Kansas Bar in 1990. He then began his legal career first working as an associate at the law firm Blackwell Sanders (now Husch Blackwell) and later as a partner at the law firm Kuckelman-Torline-Kirkland. He specialized in European litigation, spending most of his time in London and was one of the lead attorneys appointed by the

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of the State of New York. Two of these are in New York Ci ...

to litigate the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are the hundreds of sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may also refer to: Buildings * World Trade Center (1973–2001), a building complex that was destroyed during the September 11 at ...

cases after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

Political career

Chairman of the Kansas Republican Party

Kuckelman became chairman of the Kansas Republican Party in February 2019 promising to continue the advancement of Republican principles. He was heavily involved in the

2022 Kansas gubernatorial election The 2022 Kansas gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of Kansas, with Partisan primary, primary elections taking place on August 2, 2022. Governor Laura Kelly won re-election to a second term, defeating ...

against Democratic governor

Laura Kelly Laura Jeanne Kelly (born January 24, 1950)"Laura Kelly,"
''Kansapedia,'' Kansas H ...

and promising to defeat her soundly. However, partly due to Senator Dennis Pyle changing party affiliation and obtaining enough signatures to file for the governor seat as an Independent,

Derek Schmidt Derek Larkin Schmidt (born January 23, 1968) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Kansas's 2nd congressional district since 2025. He previously served as the Kansas Attorney General from 2011 to 2023. A Repu ...

, the Republican Party candidate for the governor's office was defeated with 47.3% to Kelly's 49.5%. He also lost the 3rd congressional seat to a Democrat for the first time since 1963. He failed to overturn that in 2020. He did not seek another term, actively campaigned against, and was replaced by Mike Brown in February 2023.

Other offices

Kuckelman was selected as a delegate to the

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

and most recently as an alternate to the

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Republican National Conventions. He also acted as a spokesman for Kansas City's, and by extension the whole

Kansas City metropolitan area The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

's unsuccessful bid to host the 2024 convention.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuckelman, Mike Kansas Republicans Living people Washburn University School of Law alumni Year of birth missing (living people)