TOPEKA — Kansas congressional candidate Michael Ogle said his personal political quest was to convince voters that exceptional qualities of American values, history and politics were cornerstones of a prosperous national future.
Ogle, a Topekan who works to help military veterans secure federal benefits, said he was seeking the Republican Party’s nomination in the 2nd District of Kansas “because I think that American exceptionalism needs to be pursued” in the context of economic expansion, especially energy independence, and by avoiding unwarranted military entanglements, including defending Ukraine against Russia.
In terms of public policy, Ogle said was would advocate for expanded domestic oil production to help the country break free from reliance on energy resources from abroad.
“Drill here, drill now is the solution to our dependence on foreign energy,” he said on the Kansas Reflector podcast. “Our economy should be secured on the production of American energy, and this will end our need and desire to enter costly foreign entanglements. As far as foreign policy goes, American energy independence is very important for peace and prosperity.”
He said former President Donald Trump had channeled this idea by pushing an agenda tied to MAGA, or Make America Great Again.
“It’s a wonderful slogan,” Ogle said. “But the thing about it is, the citizen has to make America great again. I can get there by providing opportunity through American energy independence and bringing our tax dollars home. We need jobs. We need opportunity. We need American exceptionalism. We need an economy that can run on American energy.”
Ogle, who is in a five-person primary to be decided Aug. 6, said he wasn’t concerned with Trump’s reluctance to avoid exaggerations, distortions and lies.
“As far as President Trump goes, he’s a real estate developer that became a reality TV star. You’re not gonna get Ronald Reagan, the actor, the great communicator. You’re gonna get reality TV,” he said.
Ogle is running against former Trump administration appointee Jeff Kahrs, Attorney General Derek Schmidt, feedlot owner Shawn Tiffany and Lawrence resident Chad Young. These Republicans are competing for the party’s nomination to fill the void of U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner’s decision not to seek reelection in 2024. The winner of the GOP primary would take on either former U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda of Baldwin City or Matt Kleinmann of Kansas City, Kansas.
Ogle, a retired infantry officer with the Kansas Army National Guard, works for the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Kansas as an advocate for veterans applying for benefits through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He said Congress should expand the PACT Act, which provided medical care to veterans harmed by toxic chemicals such as agent orange or exposed to burn pits in combat zones.
“For veterans that were exposed to high levels of toxins for long periods of time during service we should recognize all cancer and disease affecting human body systems,” said Ogle, who retired as a major. “We should look at the prolonged effect of ergonomic injury and expand mental health care resources.”
He said the United States must develop a more secure southern border with Mexico to inhibit human trafficking. U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps special forces should be deployed to “destroy” cartels engaging in smuggling people across the border into the United States.
The United States had no business devoting billions of dollars in military and humanitarian aid to defend Ukraine from invasion by Russia, Ogle said. He said observation of Russia’s military capabilities indicated it didn’t have the tactical or logistical capabilities to engage in a sustained battle with the United States. He predicted the expansionist urge in Russia would stop at Ukraine.
“I am not for the war in Ukraine,” Ogle said. “It is expensive and American tax dollars should go to solve American problems. Europe can defend Ukraine if they want.”
He argued withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq and Afghanistan contributed to subsequent decisions to arm Ukrainians and “keep funding their military industrial complex allies.”
He also was frustrated China had taken over mining lithium used in making batteries for vehicles.
“We just finished a 20-year war in Afghanistan,” he said. “China is buying swaths of land the size of Nebraska in Africa to mine lithium. Mining for lithium is not a ‘green’ process. American energy independence is the path to opportunity, prosperity and peace.”
The nuclear capabilities of the United States should serve as sufficient deterrence to forces aligned against Israel, he said.
Ogle said students should open their day at school by reciting a U.S. constitutional amendment in conjunction with the Pledge of Allegiance.
“The history of America is the long struggle for liberty,” he said. “We must engage in this struggle daily if the blessings of liberty are to be secured for us and our posterity.”
He said term limits should be applied to Congress to put an end to long political careers that led to wasteful government spending and corruption. It was foolish Congress had an approval rating in the teens, he said, but voters were unable to throw out incumbent members of the House and Senate.
The United States shouldn’t restrict the right of citizens to keep and bear arms, but Congress or the states ought to take action against militia organizations, Ogle said.
Abortion shouldn’t be allowed after the point a fetus was considered viable outside the womb, he said. He was wary of all-out bans because that would foster development of black markets and likely introduce more violence into the task of securing abortion services.
In 2019, Ogle was subdued by Topeka police officers amid a domestic dispute at his home with children inside the residence. His marriage was ending and that legal situation was complicated by his personal struggle post-traumatic stress disorder, he said. On the day the SWAT team was called in, he said he was intoxicated and his now-former wife had been doing illegal drugs.
Ogle eventually entered a guilty plea to aggravated domestic battery. He said he served one year of probation, but the episode had become a campaign issue.
“Coming back from deployment, I had some issues with PTSD,” said Ogle, who indicated he was prescribed medications that made him hostile. “I couldn’t find the right medications.”
He said people who engaged in misconduct should be given a second chance if making a sincere effort to change their life for the better. He said the arrest wasn’t, in his case, relevant to a campaign for the U.S. House.
“Stuff happens in people’s lives. It’s not always the best,” he said. “Some of this trauma, some of these things that have happened to me, have really given me a lot of wisdom, insight, empathy.”
Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and X.