John Hauer

Hauer served in the U.S. Army from 2004 to 2009 and says he is a veteran of two deployments to Iraq. He earned a bachelor's degree from Kansas State University in 2014.[2] Ballotpedia lists his career experience as working as a delivery driver. In his survey, Hauer describes himself as a working-class, blue-collar worker employed at a car-battery warehouse where he stacks batteries for recycling and makes deliveries across Kansas, and says he is working with a friend on starting an ice cream business.[1][2]

Hauer was the Libertarian nominee for Kansas's 2nd District in 2024, finishing third with 4.7% (14,229 votes) behind Derek Schmidt and Nancy Boyda.[2] He was nominated for the 2026 race at the Libertarian Party of Kansas state convention in April, according to the Lawrence Times. The paper describes him as based in Topeka and says he has not held elected office, though he has held positions in Libertarian organizations.[4] During the campaign, he ran on an anti-war, anti-income-tax platform.[1][2] He received 3.7% of the vote to Derek Schmidt's 51.2%, according to unofficial results reported by NBC News.[3]