By: Morgan Chilson
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — Narrow margins dominated four statewide races Tuesday, but as the clock neared midnight, two candidates claimed victory, leaving two races unsettled.
Victorious were Republican Dan Hawkins for insurance commissioner and Republican incumbent Steven Johnson for treasurer. Neither candidate claimed victory in the race for secretary of state, although Republican Pat Proctor moved a percentage point ahead of Democrat Jennifer Day with 48% of the votes to her 47%.
The race between Republican incumbent Kris Kobach and Democrat Chris Mann for attorney general reached midnight without either candidate claiming victory. But in the last hour of the race, Kobach dropped 2 percentage points behind Mann, who had 51% of the vote to Kobach’s 49%.
Kobach appeared briefly at a GOP watch party in Topeka but left within an hour without making a speech.
Four years ago, he narrowly defeated Mann by just 15,892 votes, or 50.8% to Mann’s 49.2%.
Kobach and Mann sit on opposite sides of most issues.
In an October debate, Mann, who was a police officer until a drunk driver hit him during a traffic stop, believes the attorney general should enforce the law rather than get involved in partisan politics.
“My opponent has never worn a badge,” Mann said. “He’s never stood toe-to-toe with violent criminals on the street or in a courtroom. Instead, that man has run for almost every office in the state of Kansas, and he’s done it because he wanted to push his political agenda.”
Kobach, who was secretary of state from 2011 to 2019, focused on immigration and what he called his “extremely effective” crackdown on fentanyl abuse.
Secretary of state
The race for the state’s top election official brought together three candidates with different views on election administration: Republican Pat Proctor, Democrat Jennifer Day and Scott Morgan, a candidate with Kansas United, a new alternative party in the state.
Day and Proctor were neck and neck throughout the evening, and by 11:45 p.m., Proctor had pulled ahead by 1%, with 519,402 votes to Day’s 510,491 votes. Morgan had 4% of the reporting precincts.
Proctor, who has represented a Leavenworth district in the Kansas House since 2021, refuses to answer questions from Kansas Reflector but is on the record speaking against an imaginary and undefined “axis of ballot harvesting.” He chaired the House Elections Committee and led the effort to put the constitutional amendment on the general election ballot to ensure only citizens can vote in Kansas, which is already in the constitution.
Day, who served in the Kansas House for one session before resigning because she moved out of district, and Morgan both said Kansas elections are secure and called the amendment redundant.
Day told Kansas Reflector she decided to run because of Proctor’s initiatives to restrict voting rights.
The Secretary of State’s Office should be “quiet and boring,” she said.
“The majority of Kansans really appreciate leaders that are not looking to make headlines and are really just wanting to do the job,” she said.
Morgan, a former Republican, said he believes Kansas voters want new options outside of the Republican and Democratic parties.
“It’s just providing a choice is all it really is,” Morgan said. “We are an alternative. We’re trying to be the center-left and center-right, forming a coalition, instead of with the extremes.”
Insurance commissioner
Republican Dan Hawkins edged out opponents Democrat Dinah Sykes and Libertarian Ric Koehn Tuesday to win the state insurance commissioner race.
At a GOP watch party in Topeka, Hawkins whooped as he finally pulled ahead in a race that ran even most of the evening. When someone approached him and said, ‘Well, landslide, you did it,” Hawkins laughed and said, “I wouldn’t call that a landslide.”
At 11:45 p.m., Hawkins. had pulled ahead by 2%, with 523,896 votes to Sykes’ 507,583. Koehn pulled in 4% of the votes.
Hawkins and Sykes are both experienced politicians. Hawkins has served in the Kansas House since 2013, and as House speaker for the past four years.
Sykes has been a Kansas senator since 2017 and served as Senate minority leader since 2021.
“The cost of health insurance in Kansas is simply out of control,” Sykes said in announcing her campaign. “Families and consumers can’t afford to keep up with the rise in premiums — on health care, auto, property or any other kind of insurance for that matter.”
Sykes also said she wouldn’t take money from the insurance industry.
In his campaign announcement, Hawkins, a strong supporter of President Donald Trump, said he would strive to create a “competitive insurance environment.” He believes deregulation would increase consumers’ options, lower costs and make insurance issues easier to navigate.
“No Kansan should be denied coverage,” he said. “Just like President Trump has made it his mission to make life miserable for foreign cartels, it will be my job as insurance commissioner to do the same for any insurance company that does not follow the law.”
Koehn, on the Libertarian website, said his focus would be to return “the insurance industry to the free market.” He opposes taxes, subsidies like the one Kansas offered to the Kansas City Chiefs, foreign wars and public education, the website said.
State treasurer
Republican incumbent Steven Johnson claimed victory in his race against Democrat Juan Luengo and Libertarian Eric Lund a little after 11 p.m. Tuesday, retaining his positions a state treasurer.
Johnson pulled ahead late in the evening Tuesday, and by 10:30 p.m. he had 51% of the reporting votes, with Luengo at 45%. Lund had 5%.
Johnson and his supporters toasted their victory with wine and bourbon glasses of milk, drawing laughter from the few people left at 11:15 p.m. at the GOP watch party in Topeka.
Johnson has been the treasurer since 2023 and formerly served in the Kansas House from 2011 to 2023. Johnson has campaigned on the work he has done in the office, including reducing investment fees, creating efficiencies that saved tax dollars and increasing financial education opportunities.
He partnered with businesses statewide to offer financial literacy opportunities, which he said will strengthen individuals and communities economically.
Luengo, who has a business background and is CEO of Engage Insurance Group, has focused on his leadership skills and the ability of the office to support small businesses by expanding programs that are already offered.
“Small business powers America. They’re the largest employer, yet they don’t have a seat at the table,” Luengo said. “If we can help them grow, scale, innovate and provide job creation — looking at what Texas and Florida are doing, we can do it better.”
Lund, who has a degree in accounting and worked in finance as an auditor throughout his career, said on the Libertarian website that the treasurer position is an administrative one and not a legislative one.
Lund said he would work with the Legislature and governor to cut government spending and taxation. He would look at reforming the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System and to eliminate all sales taxes.