Pat Proctor

Proctor enlisted in the Army as a private in 1989 and served until 2019, retiring as a colonel, with combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.[2][3][4] He earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University in 1994, three military-related master's degrees, and a doctorate in history from Kansas State University in 2014.[3][4] In 1998 he founded ProSIM Company, which develops military simulation games.[3]

After his doctorate he taught at Benedictine College and then in the Homeland Security program at Wichita State University.[2][3] He and his wife own restaurants in Leavenworth and Manhattan.[2]

Proctor was first elected to the Kansas House in 2020, defeating Mike Griswold 53 percent to 47 percent, and was re-elected in 2022 and 2024.[3] He chairs the House Elections Committee and the Joint Committee on Kansas Security.[2][3] His campaign says he carried the Citizens-Only Voting amendment and the SAVE Kansas Act, and he championed a law ending the three-day grace period for mail-in ballots, which the Kansas Court of Appeals later reinstated; Democrats have said his election bills would suppress their voters.[2][4] He advanced from the Republican primary on August 4, 2026.[1]