Wink Hartman

Willis E. "Wink" Hartman (born February 1, 1946) is an American businessman and political candidate from the state of Kansas.

Born in Wichita, Kansas, Hartman attended Wichita Southeast High School, class of 1964, and graduated from Wichita State University.

Hartman's grandfather founded Hartman Oil Co. Before Hartman inherited the company, he gained experience working for the Derby Oil Company, Xerox Corporation, and Del Monte Foods. He purchased acontrolling interest in Hartman Oil from his father in 1990. He opened restaurants in Wichita, El Dorado, Kansas and Lawrence, Kansas. He founded the Wichita Wild, an indoor football team, in 2007. He was the co-owner of the Indycar team Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing along with former driver Sarah Fisher from 2012 to 2014 when it merged with Ed Carpenter Racing to create CFH Racing. Hartman and Fisher later sold their shares in the team to former race car driver Carpenter. Hartman described alleged harassment by customers and locals, which were not verified by his employees. He associated the claimed acts with his candidacy as Kobach's running mate at his two Jimmy's EggsLawrence restaurants in which he said he had invested about $1.5 million. Hartman closed them suddenly without giving his employees any prior notice. A manager who worked at both restaurants said she never witnessed any hostile acts, but staff at both locations had not expected them to succeed financially. Hartman had also closed two Jimmy's Eggs restaurants in Wichita.

Hartman ran unsuccessfully to represent Kansas's 4th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives in the 2010 elections. In February 2017, he declared his candidacy for Governor of Kansas in the 2018 election. After loaning it $1.6 million, he ended his gubernatorial campaign in February 2018, endorsing Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. The next month, Kobach selected Hartman as his Lieutenant Gubernatorial candidate. The joint ticket of Kobach and Hartman was defeated by the Democratic ticket of state Senators Laura Kelly and Lynn Rogers, 48.0% to 43.0%, with Independent ticket Greg Orman and Republican state Senator John Doll, finishing third with 6.5%.

In January 2019, Hartmann announced that he was "seriously considering entering the race" in 2020 for the United States Senate seat expected to open up when Pat Roberts's term concludes. Kobach is also running for the seat, as is state Senate President Susan Wagle, who had endorsed Kobach's candidacy in the 2018 general election. In July 2018, Wagle had supported Kobach in the gubernatorial primary, saying, "I am proud to endorse Kris Kobach." Her endorsement of Kobach had been unlawfully sent out by Wagle's staff spokeswoman on a state computer, thus violating Kansas ethics rules.

Hartman and his wife, Libba, live in Rose Hill, Kansas on a 600-acre (240 ha) ranch outside of Wichita.