TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly held a narrow lead over Republican state Attorney General Derek Schmidt in the race for governor as vote counting continued late Tuesday night, even as the race remained too close to call.
Kelly, who is seeking a second term, led Schmidt 50% to 47% at about 10:30 p.m., with 82% of precincts reporting results.
Kelly won the state’s two largest counties – Johnson and Sedgwick – even as counting in rural areas, likely to be areas supportive of Schmidt, continued.
Though Republicans were expected to perform well nationwide, Kansas stood the chance of being an outlier. Kelly, the only Democratic governor running for reelection in a state carried by former President Donald Trump in 2020, had been a relatively popular governor in her first term.
Polls had predicted the race would be exceedingly close. A week before the election, a survey from Emerson College Polling and Nexstar Media Group gave Kelly a lead of 3 percentage points, a statistical tie as it fell within the margin of error.
Kelly’s running mate, Lt. Gov. David Toland, addressed a gathering of Kelly supporters at the Topeka Ramada hotel early in the night, sounding an optimistic note but acknowledging the race would be tight.
“The polls have been neck and neck from the very beginning. We know that tonight is going to be close,” Toland said.
At Hotel Topeka, Republicans also braced for a long night. Attendees exuded a sense of cautious optimism as Republicans remained behind in the race for governor.
“I was kind of hoping for a little bit better preliminary results, but I think if anything Kansas has taught us we’ve gotta wait until the final ballot is counted because there are some really close races,” said state Rep. Adam Smith, a Weskan Republican.
Courting voters, Kelly had vowed to continue what has been the central project of her tenure — moving Kansas past the fiscal crisis that developed under Republican Gov. Sam Brownback — and pointed to a record budget surplus and fully-funded public schools as proof that she had delivered results.
If Kelly wins, her victory will have come after Kansas voters in August overwhelmingly rejected an amendment that would have eliminated abortion rights to the state constitution just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The outcome energized Democrats in an otherwise favorable year for Republicans.
Schmidt, who has been the state attorney general for over a decade, had sought to tie Kelly to discontent with Democrats across the country. His messaging hinged on inflation, President Joe Biden and Kelly’s decisions early in the pandemic to shut down schools and businesses.
Schmidt also repeatedly highlighted his support for banning transgender athletes from girls’ sports, a position that put him at odds with Kelly, who twice vetoed a ban passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature. Schmidt promised to sign a ban if elected.
Kelly focused on her own record and warned voters a vote for Schmidt would be tantamount to returning Kansas to the days of budget shortfalls brought on by former Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax cuts.
She promoted her record of economic development, especially Panasonic’s decision to locate a sprawling electric battery plant in Johnson County, though concerns have been raised over whether Kelly has been sufficiently transparent with the public over the dealmaking involved in securing the plant.
Kurt Kiebler, a 53-year-old Overland Park resident, said Kelly was moving Kansas forward. Kiebeler, who attended a rally in Shawnee for the governor and other Democratic candidates on Sunday, called the prospect of a Schmidt governorship “dangerous.”
“I see us reverting back to the economy that Sam Brownback had,” Kiebler said.
Gary Pergeson, 43, a senior analyst and contractor for the Navy, voted in west Wichita. He is a Republican but said he voted for Kelly, as well as Chris Mann, the Democratic candidate for state attorney general.
“Laura Kelly I believe has done a pretty good job. The state is in the black so we are doing pretty well as a state,” Pergeson said.
Pergeson emphasized the importance of continuity in government, especially coming out of a pandemic. Schmidt, he said, “was not really offering solutions.”
Schmidt sought to make the race a referendum on Kelly and, by extension, Biden and the Democratic Party as a whole. Schmidt portrayed Kelly as soft on crime and as to the left of residents, pointing to her vetoes of transgender athlete bans.
Late in the race, Schmidt tried to link Kelly to drag shows held in Kansas – an attack that factually fell apart hours after it was made.
“We believe Derek Schmidt has a biblical worldview,” said Dorothy Gardner, a 76-year-old voter from Louisburg who spoke to a reporter at a Schmidt rally in Bucyrus on Friday. “The Democratic Party has changed and they no longer have the family values I was raised with.”
--------
(The Wichita Eagle’s Michael Stavola contributed to this report.)
--------
