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By Grace Hills
Democrat Chris Mann has officially defeated incumbent Republican Kris Kobach in the Kansas attorney general’s race, according to a race called Friday by the Associated Press.
In a rematch of the 2022 election, Mann won by a bit over one percentage point — nearly the same margin by which he lost to Kobach last time.
The race came down to a close-race audit. Mann declared victory early morning Wednesday morning, but Kobach didn’t concede.
Kobach is known nationally for his hardline stances on immigration and voter fraud.
Mann will be the first Democrat in the Kansas attorney general’s office since 2011. The “blue wave” of the midterms also swept in Kansas’ first Democratic U.S. Senator in nearly a century, a Democratic governor, and an end to the Republican supermajority in the Statehouse.
Although Kobach has alleged voter fraud in the past, he hasn’t alleged any foul play in this election. President Donald Trump had floated concerns of “rapid” voter fraud ahead of Election Day, without any evidence, but he accepted the results, too.
Kobach’s long and dramatic career — in Kansas and beyond
Before elected office, Kobach had a career as an attorney traveling the country calling for tighter immigration laws and helping design the post-9/11 national security system that imposed tight supervision of male visitors from Muslim-majority countries.
Kobach won his 2010 bid for Kansas secretary of state by a landslide after floating worries about noncitizens voting. He was the architect of a law requiring Kansans to prove their citizenship to register to vote, but his efforts to prove widespread voter fraud crumbled in court after critics said it prevented thousands of eligible Kansans from registering. Kobach also faced judicial sanctions for misconduct during that case.
He joined President Trump’s short-lived voter fraud commission, and earned the president’s endorsement for a 2018 bid for governor — which he lost to Democrat Laura Kelly. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2020, losing in the GOP primary to eventual winner Roger Marshall — who also lost his seat Tuesday.
As attorney general, Kobach predicted there would be “likely in the thousands” of noncitizens voting in Kansas. So far, his office has found four cases — but he’s claimed that’s the “tip of the iceberg.”
Attorney general’s race
During this year’s campaign, Mann accused Kobach of using the attorney general’s office for political theater.
Kobach spent his time in office focused on challenging Biden-era laws, like when he sued the U.S. Department of Education over a Title IX change that replaced “sex” with “gender.” He was also a driving force behind the lawsuit against Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools for allegedly violating parents’ rights by allowing students to socially transition at school without their parents knowing.
Kobach helped create a fentanyl task force with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. He’s advocated for increased criminal penalties for fentanyl traffickers, and worked to make naloxone — a medication designed to reverse opioid overdoses — more easily accessible.
Mann has promised to expand efforts to fight fentanyl, while saying he will not litigate based on a political agenda.
“The office is going to be focused squarely on public service,” Mann said on KCUR’s Up to Date. “That’s what the people of Kansas want. That’s what they deserve. They deserve someone who’s just going to get in and do the work, make sure that the hard work (gets done) of going around the state and listening to communities and finding out what the issues are and how the attorney general can plug in and help out.”
A large part of Kobach’s campaign was taking credit for the state’s lowest crime rate in more than 50 years. He was endorsed by 50 Kansas sheriffs, but Mann earned the endorsement of the Kansas State Lodge Fraternal Order of Police, which represents more than 4,000 sworn law enforcement officers. It was the first time the group endorsed the Democratic candidate since 2002.
Mann was a police officer until he was involved in an accident with a drunk driver. Mann spent the bulk of his career advocating against drunk driving, and representing victims in court.
