Kansas

Democrat Adam Hamilton beat Republican Roger Marshall, 51.0% to 46.0%, for a seat Republicans held. KCTV5 reported that he is the first Democrat Kansas has elected to the U.S. Senate since 1932.¹ The governor’s race took longer. Democrat Cindy Holscher finished 0.7 points ahead of Republican Ty Masterson; the Associated Press called it on November 12, Masterson conceded that day, and Holscher will succeed Laura Kelly, a Democrat who was term-limited. KCTV5 reported that no Democrat had ever before been elected to succeed another Democratic governor in Kansas.¹ Democrat Chris Mann took the attorney general’s office from the Republican incumbent, Kris Kobach, in a rematch of 2022, and will be the first Democrat in the office since 2011, KCUR reported.² Republicans kept the other three statewide offices: Pat Proctor won secretary of state, Daniel Hawkins insurance commissioner and Steven Johnson treasurer. The U.S. House delegation did not change, at three Republicans and one Democrat.

Hamilton’s margin stood 21.2 points to the left of Trump’s in 2024, and he got there with more votes than Kamala Harris had: 103 for every 100 of hers, in a midterm. Marshall drew 67 for every 100 of Trump’s. The votes counted come to 109% of the 2022 total and 83% of the 2024 presidential vote. The House vote moved the same way, to R+2.1 statewide from R+17.1 two years earlier.

Every part of the state moved by about the same amount. The Wichita area moved furthest, 21.0 points, and changed sides, from R+18.9 to D+2.1; it casts 21% of the vote. The Kansas City area, with 34%, went from D+4.9 to D+25.8. The Topeka area moved least, 19.2 points, and also changed sides, from R+10.6 to D+8.6. The small towns and rural counties, which cast 28% of the vote, went from R+48.5 to R+28.3.

Sedgwick County, in the Wichita metro area, is the largest of the six counties that voted for Trump and then for Hamilton. It went from R+13.8 to D+7.7 on 182,715 votes, 17% of those cast statewide. Wyandotte County, in the Kansas City area, made the widest swing, from D+23.9 to D+48.7. Lyon County, around Emporia, changed sides, and Crawford County, around Pittsburg, came within 1.3 points of doing so. No county moved toward the Republicans. The largest county, Johnson County, was already Democratic and went from D+8.5 to D+28.0. Most of the change in the state House came from there, where Democrats were in line to take up to 11 seats, the Johnson County Post reported.³

The biggest change is in the state House. Republicans went from 88 seats to 68 of 125 on unofficial results, and Democrats needed only five seats to break the Republicans’ two-thirds majority.^{3, 4} The constitution requires two-thirds of the members of each house to override a veto, which is 84 representatives.^{5, 6} House Republicans can no longer override a governor without Democratic votes, and the Kansas Reflector reported it would be their smallest working margin since 1992.⁷ Our count shows the Senate unchanged at 31 Republicans and 9 Democrats. Government stays divided, with a Democratic governor facing Republican majorities in both chambers. A political scientist quoted by KCTV5 said Republicans will also need Democrats to send constitutional amendments to voters.⁴

The Legislature draws the congressional, legislative and State Board of Education districts by passing bills, which the governor may sign or veto; the Kansas Supreme Court then reviews the legislative maps.⁸ A veto of a map would now need Democratic votes in the House to be overridden. The secretary of state is one of four constitutional officers chosen by voters every four years.⁹ The outgoing secretary, Scott Schwab, announced close-race audits in six contests; KCTV5 reported that state law requires one when the election-night margin is 1% or less.¹⁰ Proctor, a Republican, will succeed him.

Brandon Woodard, the House minority leader, said that “we have effectively shattered the Republican supermajority and restored balance to the Kansas Legislature.” The Kansas Reflector reported the remark on November 5.⁷ A House Democrat, Rep. Stephanie Sawyer Clayton, told KCTV5 that Democrats can work with Republicans to have what she called a functional majority, and Rep. Rebecca Schmoe, a Republican, named property taxes as the issue the chamber has to address.^{4, 11}

An amendment proposed by the Legislature becomes part of the Kansas Constitution when a majority of those voting on it vote yes.¹² The citizenship amendment, which modifies Section 1 of Article 5 of the constitution to say that only a U.S. citizen may vote in Kansas elections, passed with 63.6% voting yes in our count.¹³ The other amendment in our count, on how supreme court justices are chosen, was decided at the August 4 primary, when voters rejected direct election of justices; the governor still appoints them from three names sent by a nominating commission.¹⁴

Five of the ten seats on the State Board of Education, which oversees public schools, were on the ballot. Democrat Amy Diediker won the open District 3 seat, which takes in parts of Johnson and Miami counties, with nearly 55% over Republican Jim McMullen, a seat that moves to the Democrats. Republicans won the other four, and the board will have six Republicans and four Democrats, the Johnson County Post reported.¹⁵

Republicans won again in six of the offices in our count that they held, several by thin margins. They kept the secretary of state’s office by 0.8 points with Pat Proctor, the insurance commissioner’s by 1.6 with Daniel Hawkins, and the 2nd District by 6.2 with Derek Schmidt, where Trump had won by 19.6. Hamilton lost 94 of the state’s 105 counties. Republicans also kept their House majority, and a political scientist quoted by the Johnson County Post cautioned against reading the result as a change in the state’s partisan alignment.³

Jerry Moran’s Senate seat will be on the ballot in 2028, in a state that voted R+16.1 for president in 2024 and D+5.1 in this year’s Senate race. Holscher is to be inaugurated on January 11, 2027. The constitution gives the governor four-year terms and bars election to more than two in a row, and the office will next be on the ballot in 2030.^{1, 9} The Legislature must next reapportion its own districts at its regular session of 2032.¹⁶