
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly hoped to win a second term Tuesday in Republican-leaning Kansas, with her close race turning on how many independent and moderate GOP voters stayed with her after lifting her to victory four years ago.
Kelly was the only Democratic governor running for reelection this year in a state carried by former President Donald Trump in 2020. Republican challenger Derek Schmidt, the state's three-term attorney general, tied Kelly to President Joe Biden and blamed the two Democrats for high inflation.