In Close Kansas GOP Governor Primary, Kris Kobach Leads Jeff Colyer By Just 191 Votes

Tuesday’s Republican gubernatorial primary in Kansas was, much like a special election in Ohio, too close to call.

As of Wednesday morning, Secretary of State Kris Kobach — who received support from President Donald Trump — led his opponent, incumbent Gov. Jeff Colyer, by only 191 votes (or 0.1%) with 100 percent of precincts reporting. Kobach had 40.6% of all votes against Colyer’s 40.5%.

The race between Kobach and Colyer seemed about as close as Tuesday’s special race in Ohio’s 12th congressional district, where GOP candidate Troy Balderson held just a 1,754-vote (0.9 %) lead over Democrat Danny O’Connor. Like in that Ohio race, thousands of provisional and absentee ballot votes remain uncounted, according to a statement made by Colyer.

“Given the historically close margin of the current tabulation, the presence of thousands of as yet uncounted provisional ballots and the extraordinary problems with the count, particularly in Johnson County, this election remains too close to call,” Colyer said. 

The Democratic primary for governor in Kansas was nowhere near as tight as the Republican race. State Senator Laura Kelly won the nomination with 51.5% of all votes. Former Wichita mayor Carl Brewer finished second with 20.1% of the vote and former state agriculture secretary Joshua Svaty was third with 17.5%.

Greg Orman, a businessman running as an independent, is also vying for the Kansas governor seat.

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In Kansas’s third congressional district, Native American lawyer Sharice Davids won the Democratic primary with 37.3% of all votes. Brent Welder — who received support from Bernie Sanders and rising Democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — finished second with 33.9%. Davids will face incumbent GOP Rep. Kevin Yoder in the midterms. Kansas’s third is one of several districts Democrats are hoping to flip in November.

In Michigan, former State Senator Gretchen Whitmer won the Democratic primary for governor with 52.1% of all votes, and will face Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette in November.

In Kansas’s 13th House district, former state Rep. Rashida Tlaib won the Democratic primary with 33.2 % of all votes. Tlaib could thus become the first Muslim woman elected to Congress. This district was previously led by John Conyers Jr., who resigned late last year following allegations of sexual misconduct.

Article by Pablo Mena

Writer for uPolitics.com. NY Giants and Rangers fan. Film and TV enthusiast (especially Harry Potter and The Office) and lover of foreign languages and cultures.