Kobach Leads Republican Governor Primary

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach leads Governor Jeff Colyer by 191 votes in the Kansas governor’s race with all precincts reporting. The final results were announced at around 7:45 Wednesday morning.

Provisional ballots still need to be counted. Over 311,000 votes were cast in the Republican Primary in Kansas.

The race had been to close to call overnight. Both candidates traded the lead as results came in after the polls closed Tuesday night, but long lines at the polls in Johnson County prompted slow reporting times.

Johnson County is Kansas’ largest county and home to about 23-percent of the state’s registered voters.

Laura Kelly is the Democratic nominee for Kansas governor. The 68-year-old Kansas state senator from Topeka held off four other candidates in yesterday’s Democratic primary. Former Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer and former Kansas Agriculture Secretary Joshua Svaty were among the candidates seeking the Democratic nomination.

Kansas’ incumbent U.S. Representatives are one step closer to re-election. First District Congressman Roger Marshall, Fourth District Congressman Ron Estes, and Third District Congressman Kevin Yoder won their respective Republican primaries yesterday. In the Second District, Steve Watkins won the Republican nomination and will take on Democrat Paul Davis in November for right to replace Republican Congressman Lynn Jenkins, who did not seek re-election.