Voters in Kansas faced one of the busiest ballots in recent years. Offices of governor, U.S. Senate, secretary of state, insurance commissioner and the state’s four congressional districts were up for grabs. Here’s a look at Tuesday’s biggest results:
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TOP OF THE TICKET
The hottest contest came in the Senate, where three-term incumbent Republican Pat Roberts turned back wealthy independent Greg Orman in a battle seen as key to Republican hopes of taking the Senate. A year ago, a serious challenge to Roberts seemed nearly implausible, but skeptical tea party conservatives put forward a primary challenger against Roberts in August. Roberts survived, but many of those conservatives remain unconvinced he deserves a fourth term.
Roberts’ former Senate colleague, Gov. Sam Brownback, won re-election over Democrat Paul Davis. Like the Senate race, a close contest for governor seemed unlikely a year ago, but that was before unhappiness emerged — even among some Republicans — over Brownback’s successful push to aggressively cut income taxes that critics say are jeopardizing the state’s budget.
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KOBACH CRUISES
Down the ballot, Kris Kobach easily kept his job as secretary of state against Democrat Jean Schodorf. Schodorf seemed to score points during her campaign by suggesting Kobach overreached in his job by advocating for tougher voter ID laws while also pressing Democrats to field a new Senate candidate after Chad Taylor’s surprising exit from that race. Still, Kobach’s fight to toughen voter registration laws made him a champion among social conservatives, and he was the favorite.
Worth noting: Retiring Republican insurance commissioner Sandy Praeger endorsed Democrat Dennis Anderson in the race to succeed her over the GOP’s Ken Selzer. But it didn’t matter, as Selzer won handily. Praeger was a political oddity in Kansas, where she has broken ranks with her party over the Affordable Care Act and backed challengers to both Roberts and Brownback.
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REPUBLICAN SWEEP IN CONGRESS
Republicans swept to re-election in the state’s four congressional districts, with Kevin Yoder, Lynn Jenkins, Mike Pompeo and Tim Huelskamp all cruising to wins.
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WHAT DID TUESDAY TELL US?
It turns out Roberts had an easier time turning back Orman than many thought. But the race for governor was anything but a cakewalk for Brownback.
A Brownback loss would’ve spoken volumes about how citizens viewed Brownback’s effort to rewrite the state’s tax rules. Months of tax collection shortfalls since the cuts were enacted created worries among many Kansans that the cuts went too far, and his critics say they’ve hurt the state’s ability to fund education. But the tight victory over Davis Tuesday suggested many Kansans remained skeptical of how the tax cuts would affect the state’s economy.
Brownback has said he would like to eventually get rid of the state’s income taxes altogether.