Category: Election 2020

Republicans keep Kansas’ open Senate seat by electing Roger Marshall

U.S. Rep. Roger Marshall, R-Great Bend, was elected to the U.S. Senate from Kansas on Tuesday. (Photo from Kansas News Service)

by Jim McLean, Kansas News Service

Marshall’s win over Democratic state Sen. Barbara Bollier keeps intact Republicans’ winning streak in Kansas U.S. Senate races, which dates back to 1938.

Kansas Republican Congressman Roger Marshall is moving up to the U.S. Senate after surviving a challenge from Democrat Barbara Bollier in Tuesday’s election.

The 60-year-old two-term congressman from Great Bend will succeed Republican Pat Roberts, who is retiring after nearly 40 years in Congress. Marshall’s win also keeps intact Republicans’ winning streak in Kansas U.S. Senate races, a streak that dates back to 1938.

“This victory, like the U.S. Senate seat, belongs to the people of Kansas,” Marshall said to supporters at the Cyrus Hotel in Topeka. “This has been a year like no other. But I know better days are ahead. To the families who have lost loved ones amid this pandemic, the everyday workers and small businesses who are still struggling to make ends meet and the farmers and my ranchers concerned for their future, know that we will fight for you every single day.”

The Associated Press called the race for Marshall just after 10 p.m. Almost two hours later, with 91% of precincts reporting, Marshall had a nearly 11-point margin of victory.

Marshall closely aligned himself with President Donald Trump, who won Kansas by about 14 percentage points, short of his 2016 margin of 21 points.

He thanked Bollier for her “gracious” concession and complimented her on the race she ran.

“Putting your name out there in the state of Kansas as a Democrat is not an easy task,” he said. “And I just wish her the very best.”

Bollier said it was her “sacred, patriotic duty to accept tonight’s outcome,” and she was proud of the competitive race she ran.

“We cannot allow disappointment in the end result overshadow all we overcame to get this far. We were spirited and scrappy,” she said. “We broke record after record. We exceeded everyone’s expectations.”

Bollier, 62, used endorsements from nearly 100 current and former GOP officeholders to counter efforts to paint her as “too liberal” for Kansas.

The state senator from Mission Hills, a well-to-do Kansas City suburb, left the Republican Party in 2018. But her record-setting fundraising and the strategic help she received from Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and national Democrats couldn’t put her over the top.

During the Republican primary, Marshall moved to the right — closer to Trump’s positions on immigration, trade and a host of other issues — to break through a crowded field that included Kris Kobach, former Kansas secretary of state and the GOP nominee for governor in 2018.

During the general election campaign, Marshall took a page from the Trump playbook, warning there would be dire consequences should Democrats take control and implement their “extremist” agenda.

He sounded a call for bipartisanship in Washington on Tuesday night.

“We will fight to end the fighting between parties that doesn’t lead to progress,” he said. “We’re going to fight to find a path forward that all Americans can walk together, for our country faces too many challenges from mother nature, from internal foes as well as foriegn lands to be fighting against each other.”

But he didn’t back off from the issues he campaigned on. He vowed to fight to protect “our freedom of speech. Our freedom of religion. Our right to bear arms. And the sanctity of life.

“We’re going to fight for secure borders, a strong military … and always, we’re going to stand up for our law enforcement.”

At the end of his acceptance speech, Marshall also said: “I don’t know what’s going to happen nationally, but I think Kansans have chosen freedom over socialism. Kansans have chosen liberty over tyranny, and we’ve chosen liberty over lockdown.”

Marshall will succeed Roberts, who is the only person in U.S. history to have served as chairman of the agriculture committees in both the House and Senate. Marshall, who is on the House ag committee currently, has said he intends to land a seat on the Senate’s committee.

(Note: Counties will send their election results to the state within two weeks and the state’s Board of Canvassers must meet by Dec. 1 to certify the election.)

Jim McLean is the senior correspondent for the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks or email jim (at) kcur (dot) org.
The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio focused on health, the social determinants of health and their connection to public policy. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished by news media at no cost with proper attribution and a link to ksnewsservice.org.
See more at https://www.kcur.org/politics-elections-and-government/2020-11-03/republicans-keep-kansas-open-senate-seat-by-electing-roger-marshall

High voter turnout, possible change in 5th District Senate seat

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.

Most incumbents holding their own on election night

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.