The Senate is full of millionaires. One Kansas hopeful will be among richest if elected
All of the top contenders for the U.S. Senate in Kansas are millionaires.
Republican Bob Hamilton, who loaned his campaign $2 million when he joined the race in March, appears to be the wealthiest of the crowded field based on the financial disclosure he filed with the Senate last week.
Other GOP candidates — Rep. Roger Marshall, former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, and former Johnson County Commissioner Dave Lindstrom and Democratic state Sen. Barbara Bollier also showed assets worth millions in their most recent reports.
They are all vying to replace retiring Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, whose estimated net worth is nearly $3 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The majority of members of the current Congress are millionaires.
Hamilton, 60, and his wife Teresa’s assets are valued at between $15 million and $63.6 million. That would put Hamilton among the 30 richest lawmakers if elected and possibly in the top 10 if his net worth is closer to the high end of that range.
His portfolio includes an extensive list of stocks and a Charles Schwab brokerage sweep account valued at between $5 million and $25 million, but his most significant holdings are real estate. His commercial properties are estimated at between $10 million and $50 million in value.
The income from his stocks and properties last year was estimated at between roughly $534,000 and more than $2.1 million.
The real estate holdings include the storefront and warehouse for Bob Hamilton Plumbing, which Hamilton sold to Tennessee-based American Residential Services, according to his campaign. The commercial properties brought Hamilton between $100,000 and $1 million in rent last year.
In addition, Hamilton received a salary of more than $256,000 from American Residential Services since January of last year.
Hamilton remains the face of the company and regularly appears in commercials. His campaign said he continued to have management duties at the business following the sale, but that he took a leave of absence after announcing for the Senate race.
“I am a plumber who started my business with nothing, so I know what it is like to worry about providing for your family and meeting a payroll,” Hamilton said in a statement when asked about his wealth.
“That is actually why I am running for the US Senate, to defend our freedoms and ensure that future generations have the opportunity to live the American Dream the same way I did.”
His primary residence in Miami County is worth between $500,000 and $1 million.
‘Grew up blue collar’
The next wealthiest candidate is Lindstrom, a former Kansas City Chiefs player who made his fortune as the owner of several Burger King franchises in the Kansas City area.
Lindstrom, 65, and his wife Mary’s assets range from $4.8 million to nearly $18.9 million, according to the disclosure he filed in May. He owns several commercial properties, including two valued at between $1 million to $5 million, and another valued at between $500,000 and $1 million.
Dakotah Parshall, Lindstrom’s campaign manager, said Lindstrom continues to own the land and buildings that house two Burger King restaurants after selling his franchises. A third property, which Lindstrom owns, was converted from a Burger King to a gas station, Parshall said.
All three properties generated between $100,000 and $1 million in rent last year for Lindstrom. His various holdings generated between nearly $340,000 and more than $3 million in 2019 income.
“He grew up very blue collar and he’s fortunate to have been in the NFL and been successful,” Parshall said. “Because of that he’s going to donate his salary, if elected, to Kansas charities.”
The former NFL player receives an annual pension from the league of $8,143, after eight seasons with the Chiefs, which is less than the $8,277 he receives from the Kansas Public Employee Retirement System related to his decade of service on the county commission from 2003 to 2013.
Marshall, the western Kansas congressman, won’t have to file a disclosure report for the most recent tax year until August because of an extension granted to sitting members of Congress. But the report he filed with the U.S. House last year showed the congressman and wife Laina with between $3.9 million and nearly $12.2 million in assets.
Marshall, 59, an OB-GYN and former board member of Farmers Bank and Trust, wields an extensive stock portfolio, including $1 million to $5 million worth of stock in Farmers Enterprises.
Marshall’s stock and real estate holdings netted him between $360,000 and nearly $940,000 in income last year, including between $40,000 and $130,000 in oil royalties.
“Dr. Marshall is a first generation college graduate who has worked hard to realize the American dream. He put himself through medical school, served in the Army Reserve, and invested in agriculture and his local community,” said Marshall’s spokesman Eric Pahls.
“He wants every Kansan to have the same opportunity he has had.”
Marshall owns several hundred acres of farmland in Kansas worth between $765,000 and $1.5 million and a rental property in Santa Cruz, California worth $500,000 to $1 million.
A farm and a law practice
Bollier, 62, the likely Democratic nominee, and her husband Rene have between $2 million and $7.8 million in assets, mostly in stocks, including between $800,000 and $200,000 in Apple stock, and multiple investment funds valued at between $100,000 and $250,000.
The couple’s combined income from the holdings was between roughly $134,000 and $395,000 last year. Bollier, a retired anesthesiologist, made $20,550 from as a member of the Kansas Legislature.
“Barbara has always put working Kansans first and helped those most in need, whether it was her years-long fight to expand Medicaid or her tireless efforts to strengthen our public education system,” Alexandra De Luca, Bollier’s spokeswoman, said when asked about Bollier’s wealth.
Kobach, 54, the former Kansas secretary of state, filed a report in May showing that he and his wife Heather have between $1.8 million and $7 million in assets.
Kobach’s significant holdings are his farm, valued between $500,000 and $1 million, and his ownership share in Minutemen Defense, LLC, a company which sells guns, according to his campaign.
The estimated value of the company was $1 million and $5 million, but it generated $201 or less in income for Kobach last year.
Kobach valued his Lecompton-based law practice at between $50,000 and $100,000, but the firm was his primary source of income. Kobach made $444,000 as a lawyer from January of 2019 up to his May filing.
Kobach’s clients include We Build the Wall, Inc., a group trying to build a border wall through private dollars, and the city of Fremont, Nebraska, who Kobach has represented on matters related to an anti-immigration ordinance, according to his disclosure.
He also lists Breitbart News, the right wing website for which Kobach has a weekly column. His disclosure says his services for Breitbart include statutory consulting in addition to his column and radio appearances.
“You can’t buy the support of Kansas conservatives, no matter how much money you have,” Kobach said in a statement regarding the wealth of the Senate field. “You have to earn it. I have done so by fighting against illegal immigration for two decades, protecting the rights of gun owners in court, and fighting the ACLU.”
This story was originally published July 8, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "The Senate is full of millionaires. One Kansas hopeful will be among richest if elected."
