Thomas Jefferson Found in Kansas

July 24, 2012 -- In November, Kansas residents can cast their votes for Thomas Jefferson. Not the founding father but a Libertarian, née Jack Talbert, who has changed his name to match his political idol's.

"I most admire the real Thomas Jefferson," Jefferson said on his website, "so much so that I made him my namesake."

Jefferson is running against incumbent freshman Rep. Mike Pompeo, a Republican, in Kansas' 4th Congressional District. Jefferson, who once endorsed Libertarian presidential candidate Garry Johnson, said he did not vote strictly along party lines.

"Vote for the person not party -- that is what the Thomas Jefferson party is all about," Jefferson told ABC News. "Americans feel pressured to live in a red state or a blue state, but America is a red, white and blue state."

Jefferson believes that there should be no party politics.

"We need to quit acting like Democrats and Republicans and Libertarians, and start acting like Americans," said Jefferson. "We share this country, we have problems and we have to fix them."

Jefferson said he'd dabbled in part-time, stand-up comedy to conquer his fear of public speaking. But he said his run for public office was no joke.

"I wish it was a joke!" Jefferson said. "We're at a point that the president of the United States has as much power as King George had in 1775 over the colonies."

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Jefferson cited "mistreatment of power" as what prompted him to run for public office. "I decided I wanted to run ... when the National Defense Authorization Act 2012 was not vetoed by President Obama." What particularly irked Jefferson was a controversial provision of the act that gave the president authority to detain people indefinitely -- without trial or warrant -- if the government expected them of terrorism. Jefferson believes this violated the Constitution.

"This freedom is a basic human right that Jefferson proclaimed is a truth that is so evident," he said.

"Everyone in America should read their Declaration of Independence and see every charge that Thomas Jefferson wrote about King George and replace King George with Barack Obama," Jefferson said.

Jefferson, married with three children, said his family "had a hard time understanding why I wanted to change my name, but after it soaked in for a few days, everyone accepted it."

His wife, Santana Marie Talbert, is running for a State House 87th District seat in Wichita, also on the Libertarian ticket. "We have a two-pronged approach to serving our country on the state and federal levels," Jefferson said.

Though the couple shares dovetailing political opinions, Santana Marie Talbert has no plans to change her last name to Jefferson.

"My wife didn't want to change her name," Jefferson said. "She said changing her name for me once was enough."