TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on the election in Kansas (all times local):
Kansas voters appeared to be blocking a push from conservatives to give Republican Gov. Sam Brownback a chance to remake the Kansas Supreme Court.
They also ousted some of his allies from the Legislature in a backlash over the state’s budget problems.
Five of the Supreme Court’s justices were on the ballot in Tuesday’s election for a yes-or-no decision by voters statewide on whether they remain on the bench. Results favored their retention.
Four were appointed by previous governors and strongly criticized by conservatives, abortion opponents and critics of rulings overturning death sentences in capital murder cases.
But the court’s defenders benefited from voters’ frustration with the state’s fiscal woes.
At least nine Republicans in the Kansas House lost their seats to Democratic challengers.
Republican nominee Donald Trump has carried Kansas in the presidential race as expected and Kansas Republicans have won all four of the state’s U.S. House seats.
GOP Sen. Jerry Moran cruised to an easy re-election Tuesday, and voters approved an amendment to the state constitution to protect hunting and fishing.
The most competitive congressional race was in the 3rd District in the Kansas City area, but GOP incumbent Kevin Yoder dashed the best hopes Democrats had for picking up a seat in Congress since 2008.
Secretary of State Kris Kobach had predicted that a record 1.3 million of the state’s 1.8 million registered voters would participate. More than 505,000 ballots were cast in advance, 47 percent more than before the last presidential election in 2012.
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10:05 p.m.
A conservative Kansas House member who left the Democratic Party over social issues has lost her seat two years after becoming a Republican.
State Rep. Jan Pauls lost to fellow Hutchinson resident and Democrat Patsy Terrell in Tuesday’s election in the 102nd District of south-central Kansas. Terrell is a writer and self-employed public relations and social media specialist.
Pauls is a strong opponent of abortion and gay rights. She won her Democratic primary in 2012 by only eight votes, and many Democrats questioned whether she could win another in 2014. She said the Democratic Party grew increasingly hostile to her.
Pauls has served in the House since 1991. In December 2015, House Speaker Ray Merrick named her chairwoman of the House committee that handles legislation on abortion and gay rights.
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Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo has defeated a Wichita attorney to keep his House seat representing the 4th District of south-central Kansas.
Pompeo defeated Democrat Daniel B. Giroux to win a fourth, two-year term in November. The Republican incumbent first captured the House seat in 2010.
He ran unopposed in his party’s primary.
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9:50 p.m.
A Republican lawmaker in Topeka has lost his Kansas House seat to the Democrat that he narrowly defeated two years ago.
State Rep. Lane Hemsley was defeated by former state Rep. Virgil Weigel in Tuesday’s election in the 56th District.
Weigel retired as an agent of the Department of Revenue’s Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control in 2011 and won the House seat the next year with a little less than 52 percent of the vote.
Hemsley is an attorney who defeated Weigel in 2014 by 40 votes out of more than 8,900 cast.
Democrats saw an opportunity to regain the seat because of voter discontent with Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and the state’s ongoing budget problems. Hemsley tried to distance himself from the governor on tax and education issues.
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9:45 p.m.
Kansas voters have signed off on amending the state constitution declaring that Kansas residents have the right to hunt, fish and trap wildlife.
The measure will add a section to the state’s Bill of Rights to explicitly preserve hunting and fishing as a preferred way to manage wildlife. Any future measures seeking to limit hunting or fishing would need proof that a particular animal could become endangered.
Kansas now is among roughly 20 states in which hunting and fishing are a constitutional right.
Proponents say the measure is a pre-emptive safeguard against possible restrictions such as pushes to ban hunting and fishing outright or incrementally. Opponents counter that the measure might prevent citizens from stepping in to prevent unsportsmanlike practices.
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8:55 p.m.
A doctor who ousted U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp in the Republican primary has now won the seat representing Kansas’ 1st Congressional District, spanning much of central and western Kansas.
Great Bend obstetrician Roger Marshall defeated Clifton farmer and educator Alan LaPolice, who was running as an independent. There was no Democratic candidate in the race in the heavily Republican district.
Marshall made national headlines in the August primary when he ousted Huelskamp, a tea party favorite who was a persistent annoyance to GOP leaders. Huelskamp lost his seat on the House Agriculture Committee in 2012.
Marshall received primary race endorsements from the Kansas Farm Bureau, Kansas Livestock Association, National Association of Wheat Growers, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
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Republican Rep. Lynn Jenkins has batted back a Democratic challenge from an Ottawa school board member to hold on to her congressional seat in the 2nd District of Kansas.
Jenkins defeated Democrat Britani Potter to win a fifth, two-year term. Jenkins is the senior member of the state’s U.S. House delegation.
Both candidates ran unopposed in their respective primaries.
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8:10 p.m.
Kansas voters have sent U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran back to Washington, D.C., to represent them.
The Republican incumbent easily defeated Democrat Patrick Wiesner, a Lawrence attorney, in the deep red state of Kansas.
Moran was first elected to the Senate in 2010. He previously represented the state’s 1st congressional district from 1997 to 2010.
Kansas hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1932.
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8 p.m.
Republican Donald Trump has fulfilled expectations that he’d carry Kansas in the presidential election.
The election Tuesday confirmed the state’s status as a GOP stronghold in national elections. The last Democratic presidential nominee to carry the state was Lyndon Johnson in 1964.
The brash New York businessman was always considered likely to pick up the state’s six electoral votes even though Texas Sen. Ted Cruz won the state’s GOP caucuses in March and many top GOP officials backed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.
While lukewarm in their support for Trump, many Kansas Republicans couldn’t stomach voting for Democratic nominee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Former President Bill Clinton averaged less than 35 percent of the vote in Kansas in his presidential races in 1992 and 1996.
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12:55 p.m.
Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s office says the number of early ballots cast in Kansas is 47 percent higher than it was for the last presidential election in 2012.
Kobach’s office said as of early Tuesday morning, more than 505,000 Kansas voters had cast ballots by mail or in person at sites set up by county election officials.
The figure was about 344,000 for the morning of the 2012 election.
Kobach has predicted that a record 1.3 million voters will participate in this year’s election.
Voters have mailed in early ballots at a slightly higher rate than they did in 2012.
Early in-person voting increased nearly 87 percent before it ended at noon Monday.
About 332,000 people cast early ballots in-person this year. The figure for 2012 was 178,000.
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9:45 a.m.
Kansas voters are casting their ballots in an election that is expected to draw record turnout.
In the Kansas City suburb of Mission, 62-year-old Belinda Hedrick voted Tuesday morning for Hillary Clinton. She says she is an independent voter and is disgusted with the way Donald Trump has run his campaign. She also says she hates how the election has “divided our country.”
In Topeka, Republican James Aubey says he voted for Trump because he supported his stance on trade issues. The 55-year-old nurse also said he liked that Trump was discussing immigration.
Early voting was about 40 percent higher than it was before the last presidential election in 2012. Secretary of State Kris Kobach predicted that about 1.3 million voters would participate before polls closed Tuesday.
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7 a.m.
Polls have opened across Kansas in an election that some official believe will have a record number of voters casting ballots.
Early voting was about 40 percent higher than it was before the last presidential election in 2012. Secretary of State Kris Kobach predicted that about 1.3 million voters would participate before polls closed Tuesday.
In Topeka, 55-year-old contractor John Braun voted Monday at the county elections office. He’s politically unaffiliated and voted for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
He said tax issues are important to him and he doesn’t like the idea of requiring someone to pay a higher income tax rate because he or she is wealthy. He said people are smart enough to do well financially, they should be allowed to keep their money.
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12:01 a.m.
Republican nominee Donald Trump was expected to carry Kansas in the presidential race, and GOP Sen. Jerry Moran was headed to an easy re-election victory in Tuesday’s election.
Kansas was always seen as safe for Trump because a Democrat hasn’t won the state since Lyndon Johnson in 1964.
Moran faced little-known Lawrence attorney and accountant Patrick Wiesner in seeking a second, two-year term in the Senate.
Voters were likely to approve an amendment to the state constitution to protect hunting and fishing. Republicans anticipated winning all four of the state’s U.S. House seats.
Polls are to open by 7 a.m. statewide.
The state has 1.8 million registered voters. Secretary of State Kris Kobach predicted that a record 1.3 million of them would cast ballots for a turnout of 72 percent.