Former KC Royals GM Dayton Moore is cautiously considering run for Kansas governor
Soon after Dayton Moore shepherded the 2014 Royals to the franchise’s first World Series berth since 1985, he received a write-in vote for governor of Kansas.
As it happens, so did then-Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith and then-Kansas State football coach Bill Snyder. Along with Batman, Big Bird and Ernie, Jesus and Snoopy.
No word on how any of the others might view the prospect now.
But the notion that then was a mere quirk now is receiving cautious but real consideration by the former Royals general manager and team president who led the franchise to the 2015 World Series championship.
In a phone conversation with The Star on Monday, Moore acknowledged that he is studying the possibility of entering the 2026 race, as reported earlier in the day in Brad Cooper’s Sunflower State Journal and Pete Mundo of 95.7 KCMO Talk Radio.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly is currently serving her second term after winning re-election in 2022.
If it had been up to the 57-year-old Moore, now a senior adviser for the Texas Rangers, his potential interest in the governor’s office would have stayed out of the spotlight.
After all, Moore — who lives in Leawood and is originally from Wichita — said he has only recently begun to contemplate the possibility in the weeks since multiple Kansas political figures persuaded him to at least think about it.
His hope was, and remains, to travel the state listening to as many people as he can from under the radar. The better to keep the process what he would characterize as innocent as he explores both the viability of entering the political realm and how it might appeal to his ongoing aspirations to lead and inspire.
It would be premature to speculate on whether this will or won’t come to pass. It’s my sense he is trying to be absolutely open-minded about it, and it’s hard to know where that will lead him.
Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to spend a lot of time with Moore — including two of the most meaningful days of my life:
In the Dominican Republic for Yordano Ventura’s funeral in 2017, and watching him speak and mingle with prisoners at the “high-medium” security Ellsworth Correctional Facility in Ellsworth, Kan.
We’ve talked about everything and anything, life and death and everything in between.
Through all that, it’s long been clear to me that Moore is the most admirable of people — even if our politics may not align — yearning to find the best forum or mechanism to pour himself into.
Running for governor of Kansas may or not be that.
It’s too early to know, even for him.