LIVE RESULTS: Kansas holds gubernatorial, US House, and attorney general primary elections
Kansas is holding primary elections on August 2. Polls in most of the state closed at 7 p.m. local time. Follow along for live results.
Nationally, the focus is on Kansas' anti-abortion amendment, but voters in the state will also set the field for a closely watched governor's race and one of the US's most-contested House seats.
US Senate:
Sen. Jerry Moran is seeking a third term. The Republican is heavily favored to hang onto his seat where he would be in line to reclaim his leadership of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Six Democrats are vying to challenge him in November, including Patrick Wiesner, a tax attorney who Moran beat in 2016, and Mark Holland, the former mayor of Kansas City.
US House
Rep. Sharice Davids is the only Democrat in Kansas' congressional delegation. She became the first Democrat to represent Kansas in the House in a decade and one of the first two Native American women ever elected to Congress.
Davids won by 10 points in 2020, but Republicans made the seat far redder when they redrew the district. According to FiveThirtyEight, Davids' district went from a D+4 partisan lean to an R+3 within the new lines. Republicans will choose between Amanda Adkins, a former health care executive who was defeated by Davids in 2020, and Army veteran John McCaughrean.
Republicans are expected to easily hold onto the state's other three House seats. Only one Democrat is running in each of those races, meaning the field is effectively already set.
Rep. Tracey Mann is expected to hold onto the "Big 1st" — the nickname for the sprawling rural Kansas seat where four future senators cut their teeth. Teacher James Beard is running against him.
Rep. Jake LaTurner, a freshman lawmaker, will face former Naval intelligence officer Patrick Schmidt for the 2nd District. And Rep. Ron Estes, who replaced former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, is seeking to hold onto the 4th District against Army veteran Bob Hernandez.
Governor
Gov. Laura Kelly rode the anti-Republican wave and antipathy to former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to the governor's mansion. But Kelly and Lt. Gov. David Toland are expected to face a far tougher environment this November.
Republicans' frontrunner Derek Schmidt, the state's current attorney general, clinched the Republican nomination for Governor in Kansas, DDHQ projects. National pundits rated the contest as a pure toss-up. Schmidt ran with Katie Sawyer, a top congressional aide, on his ticket.
Attorney General
It wouldn't be a Kansas election without Kris Kobach on the ballot.
The former Kansas secretary of state has made himself into a polarizing figure in the pursuit of stringent voter ID requirements. Kobach, who lost the 2018 gubernatorial race to Kelly, has long pushed debunked claims about non-citizens voting in elections. Last year, the state agreed to pay $1.9 million to settle claims related to a proof of citizenship voter registration law championed by Kobach, who also led then-President Donald Trump's voter fraud commission.
Kobach is running to replace Schmidt as attorney general. He's facing off against Tony Mattivi, a former federal prosecutor, and state Sen. Kellie Warren.
State legislative races:
All 125 seats in the Kansas House of Representatives, which is heavily dominated by Republicans, are up for election in 2022.