Close races for governor, AG, secretary of state. Dems gain House seats. Ed board changes.

By Sherman Smith | editor-in-chief

TOPEKA — With Democrat Cindy Holscher holding a narrow lead in the Kansas governor’s race, Republican Ty Masterson said Wednesday the results warrant “another look.”

Holscher declared victory, even though the race was too close to call, as election offices across the state braced for a hand count of ballots from 10% of the precincts in each county. An unknown number of late-arriving mail ballots and provisional ballots also could affect the total.

Holscher’s lead over Masterson grew from about 5,500 votes Wednesday morning to 7,045 votes Wednesday night, with 549,974 to his 542,929.

“The first count does not seem to be going our way, but the margin is narrow enough that Kansas law calls for another look, and we’ll let that process finish,” Masterson said. “Every Kansan deserves to know the result is right.”

TOPEKA — Voters in Kansas forced recalculation of partisan math in the Kansas House as Democrats flipped as many as 20 seats and crushed the Republican supermajority that allowed one-party domination of public policy debates for the past 16 years.

Unofficial results from Tuesday indicated Republicans absorbed losses in 15 House districts that voted for President Donald Trump two years ago in the presidential race. If preliminary counts were to hold, Republicans would retain a majority in the House, but the GOP advantage would shrink to 68-57. It would be the smallest working margin for House Republicans since 1992.

By Clay Wirestone

If any one statement sums up the colossal miscalculation underlying Kansas Republicans’ historic wipeout Tuesday night, it’s a single social media post from Senate President Ty Masterson.

You might remember Masterson as the GOP leader who hoped to succeed Democrat Laura Kelly as governor. He ran against fellow state senator Cindy Holscher, who appeared poised for victory Wednesday after a hard-fought race. In the post, Masterson urged patience as election officials audited ballots in coming days but also edged toward a concession.

That’s not all he said, though.

TOPEKA — Kansas attorney general and secretary of state candidates are waiting for counts of provisional and mail-in ballots, as winners in the races remain undecided Wednesday.

TOPEKA — A Democrat in eastern Kansas flipped a state education board position previously held by a conservative Republican, shifting the board’s makeup to four Democrats and six Republicans.

Ahead of the midterms, Democrats wargamed dozens of scenarios looking at how President Donald Trump might try to undermine the election, everything from seizing voting machines to falsely declaring a foreign attack.

Vice President JD Vance said in a lengthy social media post Wednesday that Republicans’ shellacking in the midterm elections the night before was mainly due to the administration’s war in Iran.

The post-election process includes numerous steps and varying deadlines for when ballots have to be certified, since each state has different laws governing not only what happens on Election Day but what happens afterward.

Kansas Reflector opinion editor Clay Wirestone interviews former Kansas state poet laureate Huascar Medina about his latest book, "Protest as Love Poem," and the challenges of living through this political and cultural age.

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