2018 Kansas elections

2018 Kansas elections

← 2016 November 6, 2018 2020 →

A general election was held in the state of Kansas on November 6, 2018. Primary elections were held on August 7, 2018.

Voters elected all six executive officers, the lower house of the state legislature, and all of the state's delegations to the U.S. House.

Kansas elected four U.S. representatives, one for each congressional districts. In 2018, the delegation's Republican majority changed from 4–0 to 3–1, the first time Democrats had held a seat in the state since 2010.

District	Republican nominee		Democratic nominee		Libertarian nominee
District 1	Roger Marshall (i)	68.15	Alan LaPolice	31.85
District 2	Steve Watkins	47.64	Paul Davis	46.80	Kelly Standley	5.57
District 3	Kevin Yoder (i)	43.91	Sharice Davids	53.57	Chris Clemmons	2.52
District 4	Ron Estes (i)	59.44	James Thompson	40.56

Incumbent Republicans Jeff Colyer and Tracey Mann lost their party's renomination in a tight primary election won by Secretary of State Kris Kobach and businessman Wink Hartman by a margin of around 0.1 percent.[1] Democrats nominated state senators Laura Kelly and Lynn Rogers, with businessman Greg Orman and state senator John Doll joining the race as independents.[2] Polls leading up to the election had Kobach and Kelly running close, leading to many news outlets predicting a tossup election.

Kelly won the election, beating Kobach by five percentage points. Kelly became the oldest governor in Kansas history, taking office at the age of 68.[3]

2018 Kansas gubernatorial election[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Laura Kelly / Lynn Rogers	506,727	48.01	1.88
	Republican	Kris Kobach / Wink Hartman	453,645	42.98	6.84
	Independent	Greg Orman / John Doll	68,590	6.50
	Libertarian	Jeff Caldwell / Mary Gerlt	20,020	1.90	2.15
	Independent	Rick Kloos / Nathaniel Kloos	6,584	0.62
Total votes			1,055,566	100.00
	Democratic gain from Republican

2018 Kansas Secretary of State election

← 2014 November 6, 2018 2022 →

Nominee Scott Schwab Brian McClendon Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 549,416 458,142 Percentage 52.6% 43.9%

County results Congressional district results Schwab:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% McClendon:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

Secretary of State before election Kris Kobach Republican Elected Secretary of State Scott Schwab Republican

Incumbent Republican secretary of state Kris Kobach retired to run for governor, leaving the seat open. State representative Scott Schwab won the Republican primary amidst a number of candidates, while Democratic nominee Brian McClendon ran unopposed after his challengers withdrew. Schwab won the election.

Republican primary[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Scott Schwab	108,705	38.34
	Republican	Randy Duncan	57,236	20.19
	Republican	Dennis Taylor	56,537	19.94
	Republican	Craig McCullah	32,615	11.50
	Republican	Keith Esau	28,426	10.03
Total votes			283,519	100.00

Democratic primary[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Brian McClendon	139,457	100.00
Total votes			139,457	100.00

Source	Ranking	As of
Governing[7]	Tossup	October 11, 2018

2018 Kansas Secretary of State election[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Scott Schwab	549,416	52.60	6.57
	Democratic	Brian McClendon	458,142	43.87	3.04
	Libertarian	Rob Hodgkinson	36,882	3.53
Total votes			1,044,440	100.00
	Republican hold

2018 Kansas Attorney General election

← 2014 2022 →

Nominee Derek Schmidt Sarah Swain Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 614,436 427,289 Percentage 59.0% 41.0%

County results Congressional district results Schmidt:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Swain:      50–60%      60–70%

Attorney General before election Derek Schmidt Republican Elected Attorney General Derek Schmidt Republican

Incumbent Republican attorney general Derek Schmidt ran for re-election to a third term. He successfully defeated Democratic nominee Sarah Swain by 18 points.

Republican primary[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Derek Schmidt (incumbent)	269,212	100.00
Total votes			269,212	100.00

Democratic primary[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Sarah Swain	140,503	100.00
Total votes			140,503	100.00

2018 Kansas Attorney General election[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Derek Schmidt (incumbent)	614,436	58.98	7.79
	Democratic	Sarah Swain	427,289	41.02	7.79
Total votes			1,041,725	100.00
	Republican hold

2018 Kansas State Treasurer election

← 2014 2022 →

Nominee Jake LaTurner Marci Francisco Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 598,392 437,879 Percentage 57.7% 42.3%

County results Congressional district results LaTurner:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Francisco:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

State Treasurer before election Jake LaTurner Republican Elected State Treasurer Jake LaTurner Republican

Incumbent Republican treasurer Jake LaTurner was appointed to the office on April 25, 2017, following the resignation of his predecessor Ron Estes to join the U.S. House of Representatives. He ran for election to a full term, defeating his Democratic challenger State Senator Marci Francisco by 15.49 points.

Republican primary[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jake LaTurner (incumbent)	258,796	100.00
Total votes			258,796	100.00

Democratic primary[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Marci Francisco	141,214	100.00
Total votes			141,214	100.00

2018 Kansas State Treasurer election[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Jake LaTurner (incumbent)	598,392	57.74	9.78
	Democratic	Marci Francisco	437,879	42.26	9.78
Total votes			1,036,271	100.00
	Republican hold

2018 Kansas Insurance Commissioner election

← 2014 2022 →

Nominee Vicki Schmidt Nathaniel McLaughlin Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 644,293 380,166 Percentage 62.9% 37.1%

County results Congressional district results Schmidt:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% McLaughlin:      60–70%

Insurance Commissioner before election Ken Selzer Republican Elected Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt Republican

Incumbent Republican Insurance Commissioner Ken Selzer retired to run for governor, leaving the seat open. Republican state senators Vicki Schmidt and Clark Shultz competed in a close primary, with Schmidt winning the nomination. The Democratic nominee was president of the Kansas NAACP Nathaniel McLaughlin. Schmidt won the election with the highest vote percentage of any statewide candidate.

Republican primary[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Vicki Schmidt	152,706	52.01
	Republican	Clark Shultz	140,887	47.99
Total votes			293,593	100.00

Democratic primary[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Nathaniel McLaughlin	138,941	100.00
Total votes			138,941	100.00

2018 Kansas Insurance Commissioner election[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Vicki Schmidt	644,293	62.89	1.38
	Democratic	Nathaniel McLaughlin	380,166	37.11	1.38
Total votes			1,024,459	100.00
	Republican hold

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Results of the Kansas House elections

The Kansas House of Representatives held elections for all 125 seats in 2018. Republicans maintained their supermajority in the chamber, with neither parties making any gains.

2018 Kansas House of Representatives elections

Party		Before	After	Change
	Republican	85	85
	Democratic	40	40
Total		125	125