John Hauer agrees with Trump on this hot-button issue as Kansas Libertarian gears up for midterm Congress race

John Hauer is the Libertarian candidate running for Congress from Kansas District 2. Ahead of the US midterms on November 3, Hauer spoke exclusively to HT.com about his thoughts on the direction US politics should take, and what made him think of running for Congress.

John Hauer, the Libertarian candidate, is running for Congress from Kansas District 2. (John Hauer)Hauer, who said he was a truck driver who previously served in the US military, shared that he had never been very into politics when he was younger. However, he got into it when Covid happened. The stimulus check in his hand was akin to a moment of political awakening, Hauer described, as he thought to himself “Wow this is going to cause inflation for the rest of my life.”

Now, Hauer is strongly against such moves that can ‘mess up the economy’ and has squarely called them bad ideas. If he's elected to Congress, Hauer has made it clear that he'd mostly vote no to a lot of bills. The candidate explained that he did not agree with most of what Congress and the federal government spends on. He further indicated that the bills that would have his support would be the ones looking to reduce powers of the federal government, close federal agencies, and reduce federal laws.

However, for someone not quite on the same page with the federal government, the Libertarian candidate has a surprising point on which he agrees with President Donald Trump.

Hauer, when asked about the current ICE operations in Kansas, said the federal agency was trying to solve a problem that should have been solved a long time back. He pushed for having ‘secure borders’.

The Libertarian candidate noted that it was impossible to completely close the border and recalled his time during the military days, where he'd been posted in places along the US border where there wasn't even a fence. Hauer noted that borders could definitely be made better by fencing.

When asked about Trump's proposed wall in this context, Hauer said it was not a ‘bad idea’ describing it as the ‘safest way to control the flow of people into the country’. He noted it was the federal government's job to keep borders secure, but Hauer is not necessarily anti-immigration. In fact, the Libertarian candidate eyeing a Congress seat thinks it's a healthy sign people want to move to the US.

Hauer speaks of a ‘second American Revolution’ on his campaign page, and he shared his vision of the same with HT.com. The Libertarian noted the best way would be to let the states take control of themselves.

“What we would have then would be an EU like situation and they can come together for such things as monetary purposes, actual threat of invasion,” Hauer explained. He said his vision was that the 50 states would become 50 countries, and claimed the federal government did not seem to have the best interests of the citizens at heart, rather prefering to ‘throw weight’ around the world.

Hauer's focus is on the ground level realities and he flagged rising fuel, food, and housing costs across Kansas, including District 2. He blamed the federal government spending, and then printing money for the vicious cycle that is leading to inflation. The Congress candidate also added that the Iran war did not help matters for citizens.

Hauer, who contested in 2024 as well, is aware of the mammoth task ahead of him. He says he is prepared better this time around, but knows that the Democrats and Republicans form a political dichotomy in the US.

According to him, ‘something very drastic’ might have to happen, like the economy crashing, for people to get out of the two-party system. Hauer further noted that a lot of voters were elders and were not as open to ‘changing minds’, while adding that the situation might change with younger people showing up to vote.

Ahead of the midterms, he shared a message with his voters, saying “To anybody who’s on the fence, I’m the candidate who will choose freedom over safety every time. For too long in this country we have been choosing safety, safety nets, over freedom, and I think this is steering our country in the wrong direction. I would like to turn the country in a different direction - we are going to sacrifice a bit and gain more freedom.”

Hauer will go up against Republican Derek Schmidt and Democrat candidate Don Coover in the midterms race for District 2.

Shuvrajit has over seven years of experience covering US, India, and world news. An English Literature postgraduate from Jadavpur University, Shuvrajit started off covering entertainment, gaming and all things pop culture. There were brief periods away from the media industry, with short stints in content marketing, ed-tech and academic editing. However, the newsroom beckoned and over the last few jobs, Shuvrajit has exceedingly focused on team functioning as well, including tracking news and assigning tasks, working on everyday breaking news, framing detailed coverage plans, and creating immersive and data-driven stories. In his time as a digital journalist, he has covered a Lok Sabha election, multiple state elections, Union Budgets and award ceremonies. He has also helped in planning content for company event panels in the past. For work, Shuvrajit enjoys dabbling with data visualization, editing tools, and AI chatbots and attempts to incorporate AI workflows in everyday tasks. He is deeply interested in geopolitics, sports, films and music. Prompting is a new fascination for Shuvrajit now. Apart from that, he can be found doom-scrolling, sharing memes, or cheering on his favorite football team.Read More