Month: November 2020

After a close contest, the state Senate, 5th District, appears to have a new Senator, Democrat Jeff Pittman.

With all precincts in Wyandotte County now reporting, Pittman has a slight lead over Republican incumbent Sen. Kevin Braun of 129 votes in Wyandotte County and a larger lead of 1,721 votes in Leavenworth County.

However, all results are unofficial. There is an unknown number of mail ballots that still may come in, plus some provisional ballots could be counted at the upcoming vote canvass Nov. 16. The Board of Canvassers will determine the final official totals.

Wyandotte County Election Commissioner Bruce Newby stated that the voting numbers will continue to increase Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as they count postmarked mail ballots. Those ballots had to be postmarked and mailed by Tuesday, Election Day, and received by Friday to count.

It was one of the highest voter turnouts ever in Wyandotte County, a 68 percent turnout of all registered voters, according to the election commissioner. The number of registered voters is 91,349, and the number of active registered voters is 82,745, Newby stated. It was a 75 percent turnout of active registered voters.

Unofficial results have been posted to the Election Office website, www.wycovotes.org.

The Wyandotte County totals for the 5th District, state Senate, were 6,864 for Sen. Braun and 6,993 for Pittman.

Wyandotte Countians voted around two-to-one for Joe Biden over Donald Trump for president. The totals on election night were 35,195 for Biden, 18,337 for Trump, 1,012 for Jorgensen and 272 write-ins. Statewide on election night, Trump was receiving about 56 percent of the vote to Biden’s 42 percent.

For U.S. Senate, Wyandotte County voters cast 34,184 votes for Democrat Barbara Bollier and 16,317 for Republican Roger Marshall. There were 3,535 for Libertarian Jason Buckley. Marshall was ahead 52 percent to 43 percent statewide, and Bollier has conceded the race.

In the 3rd District, U.S. House contest, incumbent Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids was re-elected, in unofficial results. She received 35,934 votes to Republican Amanda Adkins’ 16,311 in Wyandotte County. Rep. Davids led by more than 37,000 votes in Johnson County.

In the state Senate, 6th District, Democrat incumbent Sen. Pat Pettey led Republican challenger Diana Whittington, 11,954 to 6,494 in Wyandotte County. Pettey had 2,017 to Whittington’s 1,315 in Johnson County.
Incumbent Democratic state Sen. David Haley,4th District, was leading Republican challenger Sam Stillwell, 16,547 to 4,553.

In the state House, incumbent Rep. Louis Ruiz, D-31st Dist., was leading Republican challenger Landon Griffith, 5,045 to 2,014.

Incumbent Rep. Pam Curtis, D-32nd Dist., was ahead of Republican challenger Greg Conchola, 2,672 to 911.

In the 33rd House District, incumbent Rep. Tom Burroughs faced two opponents, Jordan Mackey, a Republican, and Rick Parsons, a Libertarian. Burroughs had 5,010 votes to Mackey’s 4,293 and Parsons’ 991.

In the 34th District, incumbent Rep. Valdenia Winn, a Democrat, had 5,303 votes. There were 131 write-in votes.

Rep. Broderick Henderson, D-35th Dist., had 5,459 votes to Republican challenger Mark David Snelson’s 1,374 votes.

In the 36th District, incumbent Rep. Kathy Wolfe Moore, a Democrat, had 8,043 votes to Republican Mark Gilstrap’s 4,824.

In the 37th District, Democrat Aaron Coleman received 3,496 votes. There were 2,013 write-in votes.

District Attorney Mark A. Dupree Sr. received 37,367 votes. There were 5,838 write-in votes.

Mike Taylor, Unified Government spokesman, said they would probably not have final information election night about the 37th District, where State Rep. Stan Frownfelter, a Democrat, was mounting a write-in campaign against young candidate Aaron Coleman, who won an upset victory in the primary. Coleman was the only candidate on the general election ballot for the 37th District, with at least two other announced write-in candidates. Kristina Smith, a Republican, was another write-in candidate.

Taylor said the write-in votes would have to be individually approved by the Board of Canvassers, which is expected to meet Nov. 16 to certify the election results.

Incumbents were doing well in early unofficial Wyandotte County partial vote returns.

An exception was state Sen. Kevin Braun, R-5th Dist., who was trailing Democratic challenger Jeff Pittman. Not all returns were in yet.

Wyandotte County added to U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids’ Johnson County lead. Wyandotte County voters cast 26,622 votes for Rep. Davids, a Democrat, and 8,859 for Amanda Adkins, a Republican. There were 925 votes for Libertarian Steven A. Hohe.

Those votes are added to Johnson County’s 172,348 for Rep. Davids and 151,380 for Adkins.

Wyandotte County added 25,752 for Democrat Barbara Bollier for U.S. Senate, and 8,702 for Roger Marshall, a Republican. Libertarian Jason Buckley received 1,888 in Wyandotte County. Statewide, Marshall had a 52 percent lead to Bollier’s 43 percent.

Bollier conceded the election about 10:15 p.m. Tuesday. “Of course, this wasn’t the finale we hoped for. But at a time of deep national cynicism —  when faith in our democratic institutions hangs by a thread — I consider it a sacred, patriotic duty to accept tonight’s outcome. I invite my supporters to join me in acknowledging our new Senator, and to celebrate the freedom we had to make our case in this campaign,” Bollier said in her concession speech.

For the state Senate, 5th District, Democratic challenger Jeff Pittman had 5,092 Wyandotte County votes compared to 3,477 for Sen. Kevin Braun, a Republican. Pittman led in Leavenworth County, 14,460 to Braun’s 11,124. There are still some votes remaining to be counted.

In the state Senate, 6th District, Democrat incumbent Sen. Pat Pettey led Republican challenger Diana Whittington, 8,836 to 3,379 in Wyandotte County. Pettey had 2,017 to Whittington’s 1,315 in Johnson County.

Incumbent Democratic state Sen. David Haley,4th District, was leading Republican challenger Sam Stillwell, 12,418 to 2,762.

In the state House, incumbent Rep. Louis Ruiz, D-31st Dist., was leading Republican challenger Landon Griffith, 3,906 to 1,151.

Incumbent Rep. Pam Curtis, D-32nd Dist., was ahead of Republican challenger Greg Conchola, 1,886 to 476.

In the 33rd House District, incumbent Rep. Tom Burroughs faced two opponents, Jordan Mackey, a Republican, and Rick Parsons, a Libertarian. Burroughs had 3,622 votes to Mackey’s 1,984 and Parsons’ 481.

In the 34th District, incumbent Rep. Valdenia Winn, a Democrat, had 3,886 votes. There were 66 write-in votes.

Rep. Broderick Henderson, D-35th Dist., had 3,940 votes to Republican challenger Mark David Snelson’s 795 votes.

In the 36th District, incumbent Rep. Kathy Wolfe Moore, a Democrat, had 6,383 votes to Republican Mark Gilstrap’s 2,884.

In the 37th District, Democrat Aaron Coleman received 2,282 votes. There were 1,220 write-in votes.

District Attorney Mark A. Dupree Sr. received 26,481 votes. There were 3,460 write-in votes.

More totals will be released later tonight. These totals are not expected to be complete on election night, because there still could be mail-in ballots postmarked by today that have until Friday to arrive at the Election Office.

Mike Taylor, Unified Government spokesman, said they would probably not have final information election night about the 37th District, where State Rep. Stan Frownfelter, a Democrat, is mounting a write-in campaign against young candidate Aaron Coleman, who won an upset victory in the primary. Coleman is the only candidate on the general election ballot for the 37th District, with at least two other announced write-in candidates. Kristina Smith, a Republican, is another write-in candidate.

Taylor said the write-in votes would have to be individually approved by the Board of Canvassers, which is expected to meet Nov. 16 to certify the election results.