A Bernie Sanders loyalist who “struggled” to vote for Hillary Clinton is entering the Democratic primary for one of the most competitive House races in the country.
The Guardian has learned that Brent Welder, a longtime Democratic operative and labor lawyer, will announce his candidacy in Kansas’s third congressional district on Monday.
The district, covering suburban Kansas City and represented by Republican Kevin Yoder, was won by Hillary Clinton in 2016 and has long been viewed as a top Democratic target in the 2018 midterm elections. The district is prosperous and well educated and was represented by Democrat Dennis Moore for a decade before he retired in 2010.
Welder, who spent more than a year working on the Sanders presidential campaign, joins a crowded primary field that includes Jay Sidie, the Democratic candidate in 2016, and Andrea Ramsey, a former president of a not-for-profit health clinic who is backed by Emily’s List.
His candidacy will pose an interesting test in a swing district, as he embraces Sanders’ anti-corporate populist message. He is one of growing number of former Sanders staff members to consider bids for Congress. Others may run in Iowa and California.
Speaking to the Guardian, Welder said he “wasn’t paying any attention to the Democrats in the race right now” and focused on attacking Yoder, whom he said was “not representing the district at all”.
The district, Welder said, was “not a place where people think much of huge corporations meddling our economy and our politics”. But he could face a backlash over his public hesitancy to back Clinton’s candidacy, despite having worked for John Kerry and Barack Obama.
“One of my biggest issues is getting corrupting influence of big money out of politics,” he said, “and I was attracted to the fact that [Green party candidate] Jill Stein was very dedicated to that cause, I will say, and I wasn’t afraid to look into the possibility of supporting her.”
He made clear that he did go door to door for Clinton and the rest of the Democratic ticket and decided to back her “when I got into the voting booth to actually vote”.
Welder also faces the potential impediment of having moved to Kansas only in April, after living in St Louis. He said he was confident this will not be an issue. Not only is his wife is from the district, he said, but he helped organize for Sanders there and has represented clients from the area as a labor lawyer.
An aide to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee told the Guardian: “There’s no doubt Kansas three is a top targeted district for us in 2018. It was surprisingly competitive last cycle and we expect the environment for Democrats to be even more favorable this cycle.”
The aide added that Yoder was viewed as “particularly vulnerable and that’s evident by the number of candidates stepping up”.
“We don’t know who that candidate will be,” the aide said, “and we look forward to them working the ground and connecting with the Democratic base on the ground.”