Democrat · U.S. Senate
Sources for Michael Soetaert
20 public sources used in researching this candidate. Every claim in the profile traces back to one or more of these URLs.
9
primary
6
secondary
5
social
Primary Records
9 sources- Open
Douglas County, Kansas election office export · 2026-05-19
2026 Primary Election Candidate Filing Informationcandidatefiling.us
- U.S. Senator listing includes Michael "Mike" Soetaert (D), Wellington
- Filing date listed as 2025-06-23
- Filing method listed as fee
- Candidate for Senate, Kansas
- Candidate ID S2KS00097
- No 2025-2026 financial summary available at access
- Candidate name Michael Soetaert
- Office sought Senate
- Party Democratic Party
- Open
City of Wellington · 2026-05-19
Media Release: Wellington City Council Accepts Resignation of Council Member Michael "Mike" Soetaertcityofwellington.net
- Soetaert was a Wellington City Council member
- Soetaert requested that his resignation be placed on the agenda on 2025-12-12
- Council accepted the resignation on 2025-12-16
- 2020 U.S. House Kansas District 1 Republican primary: R-Michael Soetaert received 5,756 votes, 4.77%
- 2022 U.S. Senate Democratic primary: D-Michael Soetaert received 9,464 votes, 3.55%
- 2024 Kansas Senate District 32 Democratic primary: Michael "Mike" Soetaert received 366 votes, 32.50%
- Campaign-controlled website is active
- Site metadata describes Soetaert as a progressive Democrat for U.S. Senate
- Site metadata references reproductive rights and LGBTQ+/Equality Act advocacy
- Active donation page for Mike Soetaert for Senate
- Page says Soetaert is filed with FEC and Kansas Secretary of State
- Page says Soetaert boycotts special-interest PACs, super PACs, and canary PACs
Reporting and Public Context
6 sources- Full name Michael Soetaert
- Birth place Wellington, Kansas
- Home city Wellington, Kansas
- Soetaert ran for U.S. Senate as a Democrat in 2022
- Article says he was a former Republican who switched parties because of pandemic, Jan. 6, and LGBTQ issues
- Article says he was the first openly gay candidate to run for a U.S. Senate seat from Kansas
- Open
KCUR / Kansas News Service · 2026-05-19
Who's running to represent Kansas in the U.S. Senate in 2026?kcur.org
- Soetaert was until recently a Wellington city council member
- Former Republican; has run for various local, state, and federal offices
- Grew up in Spring Hill, Kansas
- Spring Hill native Michael Soetaert filed to run for U.S. Senate in 2026
- Report says he touted himself as the first openly gay candidate to run for U.S. Senate representing Kansas
- Michael Soetaert - Ballotpedia
- Ballotpedia: Michael Soetaert
- ActBlue donation page
Public Online Activity
5 sources- Visible video titles include reproductive rights, Citizens United, ballot box, register to vote, affordability/safety, peace, LGBTQIAP2S+ SALT, World Wheat Capital, and America's Breadbasket
- Highest-viewed captured item was 'about the BALLOT BOX' with 1.5K visible views at capture
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mikeforkansas was the strongest post-level source in the local social harvest. Public channel capture on May 11, 2026 showed 30 visible videos from roughly November 2025 through Februar...
- Profile metadata listed 52 followers, 0 following, and 205 posts
- Profile text included tags for progressive Democrat, Kansas, gay, LGBTQIAP2S+, reproductive freedom, women's rights, and ERA
- "Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michael.soetaert1/ public metadata in local harvest showed 52 followers, 0 following, and 205 posts, with bio tags for progressive Democrat, Kansas, gay, LGBTQIAP2S+, reproductive f...
- Profile metadata listed 22,749 followers, 2,380 following, and 235 writes/posts
- Profile description listed tags including U.S. Senate, LGBTQIAP2S+, Equality Act, Kansas, peace, SOGI, DEIA, women's rights, ERA, reproductive freedom, and vote.gov
- Bluesky profile metadata as captured on 2026-05-11 listed the display name "Michael Soetaert for United States Senate 2026 KS" and the handle michaelsoetaert.bsky.social. The public JSON-LD showed 22,749
- National-policy content appeared mostly through issue labels and video titles. The campaign site labels included reproductive rights, affordability, voting rights, Department of Peace, LGBTQIAP2S+ equality, campaign fin...
- Kansas and local-place signals were present, but lighter than the national issue and self-definition signals. Visible YouTube titles named Wellington, Johnson and Sumner, affordability and safety, World Wheat Capital, a...
