Kansas Governor2018

A week after the polls closed, Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer conceded the primary to Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Kobach’s victory, though, isn’t necessarily good news as most GOP strategists consider him to be a flawed nominee. Kobach has long been a vocal supporter of former Gov. Sam Brownback and his policies. Brownback was very unpopular when he left office this spring and many voters now oppose the deep tax cuts that led to steep reductions in funding for education and other government services. Kobach is also a close ally of President Trump, who endorsed him in the primary. In a pre-primary poll of likely Republican primary voters, Trump’s job approval rating was just 69 percent, which is lower than it should be. Trump had appointed Kobach to be the vice chairman of his now defunct Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, which collapsed under the weight of controversy. All this provides Democrats with ample fodder to wield against Kobach. State Sen. Laura Kelly won the Democratic nomination with 52 percent of the vote in a five-way field. Kelly’s message focuses on restoring funding for education. In the general election, voters are looking at a competitive three-way race with Greg Orman, a businessman who is running as an independent. Orman ran for the U.S. Senate in 2014, giving GOP U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts a competitive race. While Orman could siphon votes away from Kelly, he is also likely to win over some Republican votes, especially from Colyer supporters looking for an alternative to Kobach. Three-way races are complicated equations. In a state as Republican as Kansas, the GOP nominee would normally be at least a slight favorite, but Kobach is controversial enough to put this race in the Toss Up column.

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