A proposed constitutional amendment failed by less than 10,000 votes in the initial ballot count. It would have allowed the Kansas Legislature to take away some policy-making capabilities from the governor’s administration.
Democratic attorney general candidate Chris Mann conceded the close race to Republican Attorney General-elect Kris Kobach despite incomplete results from mail and provisional ballots.
Republicans preserved a two-thirds supermajority in the Kansas House to mirror the GOP-dominated Kansas Senate and keep in place this substantial legislative barrier in a second term for Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.
Kris Kobach is set to take the Kansas attorney general seat, becoming the state’s top law enforcement officer and chief legal adviser after a series of political failures. Kobach said he will use the position to sue President Joe Biden’s administration.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has won a second four-year term, defeating Republican Derek Schmidt in a campaign that pitted her economic accomplishments against his transphobic appeals and attacks on pandemic policies.
Unofficial results show four seats on the Kansas State Board of Education were won by conservative candidates who want to restrict how race and social-emotional learning are taught in schools.
Kansans voted to keep all six state Supreme Court justices up for retention on the November ballot. The justices were returned with more than 60% voter support, including two who voted in favor of abortion rights.
The state’s voters embraced an amendment to the Kansas Constitution on Tuesday requiring election of county sheriffs and narrowing options for ousting a wayward chief law enforcement officer, while an amendment granting the Legislature more authority to reject state administrative regulations could be headed to defeat.
Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, clinging to a slim lead late Tuesday, told cheering supporters she expects to be declared the winner over Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt after the few remaining votes have been counted.
Carter Gaskins/Lawrence Times
Supporters tensely watched election results come in and rooted on their candidates in Lawrence Tuesday night. But by late in the evening, the crowd had slimmed considerably at the Douglas County Democrats’ watch party at Maceli’s downtown.
