Colin McRoberts has a message for young people: head to the polls. McRoberts is a Democrat running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Kansas’ first congressional district against Republican incumbent Tracey Mann. The district, known as the Big First, is the 11th largest in the country and home to more than 730,000 Kansans.

McRoberts grew up in Lubbock, Texas, 600 miles from his current residence of Lawrence, but was born at the southern end of the Ogallala Aquifer—the same one that waters farms in Western Kansas. McRoberts said that growing up in a heavily Republican area taught him that party loyalty can be dangerous when voters ignore policy, or the person implementing it.

“I’ve lived in blue cities and in red cities and blue states and in red states. The ones that are healthiest are the ones that are able to work across the aisle and pick a candidate instead of a party,” McRoberts said.

McRoberts moved to Kansas in 2015 and is currently an associate teaching professor in marketing and business law at the University of Kansas School of Business. McRoberts said that he looks to the history of the Jayhawk and its abolitionist ties when defining Kansas values as being disagreeable and fighting for what matters.

“That shows up in our history. It’s not something that we’ve done the last generation or so in Congress, though,” McRoberts said. “We keep electing politicians who are the exact opposite of people who want to stand up and fight. They talk a lot about Kansas values, but you could not find a value that they’ll actually defend when it comes down to it.”

In March 2025, McRoberts attended Republican Sen. Roger Marshall’s town hall in Oakley, Kan. after hearing about it on Reddit, as Marshall’s office attempted to keep it offline. McRoberts said he was offended by the secrecy of the event and wanted to hear his Senator defend his decisions, including the destruction of the United States Agency for International Development by the Department of Government Efficiency, in front of his constituents.

“[Marshall] did not appreciate people asking him questions that he didn’t have answers for,” McRoberts said. “He did not know how to answer them, or how to talk to people.”

During a question about whether DOGE will be beneficial to Kansans, Marshall walked out early, which McRoberts caught on video and uploaded to Facebook. From there, it spread across social media and McRoberts was contacted by The New York Times and CNN.

“I kept explaining to these journalists that this is not a surprise. If you’re Roger Marshall, you’ve got no reason to stand up and answer hard questions that only cause trouble for you,” McRoberts said. “The marginal benefit is to walk out, because you’re still going to get elected. You assume because partisanship is going to protect you and cover for you.”

McRoberts said that Marshall’s exit was a contributing factor in his decision to run for Congress and he filed to run in September 2025.

In 2024, Mann won reelection by 69.1% of the vote and the district has only elected a Democrat once, in 1952. Despite those numbers, McRoberts said that his race is winnable this year given the recent low approval rating of the Republican Party.

McRoberts said that there is no incentive for Republican leaders in Kansas to govern effectively because many represent historically Republican areas and assume they will get re-elected. He said that the primary difference between himself and Mann is their interactions with constituents, as Mann sees engaging with the public as a risk.

“I don’t think any person in the world, even the deepest red Republican, would look at me and Tracy Mann next to each other and say, ‘Tracy Mann is better at this job,’” McRoberts said. “Nobody would say Tracy Mann is the guy who’s going to stand up and fight for Kansas.”

When asked how he would represent Kansans who did not vote for him, McRoberts said that his approach would not change. He said that since it will be nearly impossible for him to win a second term, he would be able to make decisions informed by morality, rather than party loyalty.

“I’m going to do the right thing whether it helps me politically or not, and it doesn’t matter to me if somebody voted for me, because I don’t expect to get reelected,” McRoberts said. “You do what’s right no matter what.”

In Congress, McRoberts said he would push to end the remaining tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, as they raise prices for the average American and weaken the country’s trade relations. After the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling in Learning Resources, Inc v. Trump, large businesses that paid these invalid tariffs will be entitled to refunds.

“We don’t get that, the companies do. It’s essentially a massive transfer of wealth from the American consumer to big businesses,” McRoberts said.

McRoberts also said that he supports reforming the Ku Klux Klan Act, a law that prohibits state officials or individuals from depriving civil rights, to include federal law enforcement, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement. McRoberts said that with this reform would combat ICE’s disregard for rule of law.

“With a Democratic majority in Congress, we could get it done within 100 days easily, and that would make a huge difference to moving civil rights forward again and protecting people’s rights against government intrusion,” McRoberts said.

McRoberts said that he is inspired by the recent student protests and sees it as a way for young people to send a message about what matters to them. He said it is also important for them to connect that to the political process and build the habit of voting.

McRoberts said that he is not running to build a long-term political career, but to transform the Big First into a competitive district whose representation is more aligned with Kansas’s identity and needs. He said that regardless of the electoral outcome, his campaign will still be worth it because it will close the margin.

“I want to make this not a district that historically votes Dem. I want to make this a district that votes for the best candidate, no matter who that is,” McRoberts said.

The Kansas primary election will be held on Aug. 4 and the deadline to register is July 14. The general election will be held on Nov. 3 and the deadline to register is Oct. 13.