Colyer concedes, handing Kobach the Republican nomination for Kansas governor

Secretary of State Kris Kobach won the Republican nomination for Kansas governor Tuesday after Gov. Jeff Colyer conceded following a week of stunning twists in the razor-thin contest.

The concession came after Kobach widened his lead to more than 300 votes with the counting of provisional ballots in Johnson and Sedgwick counties. Johnson County had been seen as a bulwark in Colyer’s effort to overtake Kobach.

Colyer conceded in an evening news conference from the Statehouse, where he said he wouldn’t ask for a recount or challenge the election results in court.

“I just had a conversation with the secretary of state and congratulated him on his success, and I repeated my determination to keep this seat in Republican hands. This election is probably the closest in America. But the numbers are just not there unless we were to go to extraordinary measures,” Colyer said.

“Kansas is too important, the people of Kansas are too important, our children are too important.”

At an earlier news conference, Kobach stopped just short of claiming victory.

Kobach’s victory represented a stunning rejection by a plurality of Republicans of the state’s sitting GOP governor, who took over the job in January after Sam Brownback resigned.

It was also a coup for President Donald Trump, who endorsed Kobach at the last minute over concerns from some national Republicans that Kobach could pave the way to a Democratic victory.

In ultimately siding with Kobach, Republican voters chose a Kansas politician with a rising national profile whose style and politics echoes Trump. The president endorsed the Kansas secretary of state on Twitter on Monday, less than a day before voting ended.

Kobach credited a last-minute endorsement from President Trump for powering his campaign into the lead.

“Election Day voting went much more strongly for me, as opposed to the advance vote, which Jeff Colyer won,” he said.

Kobach said Kansas will know the final outcome no later than Thursday, when the last large counties count their last votes.

Kobach criticized Democratic nominee Sen. Laura Kelly and independent candidate Greg Orman as being too liberal. Kobach said he is the only candidate to have signed a pledge never to raise taxes.

Kobach had said he wouldn’t hold it against Colyer if he wanted to wait until Thursday to make a decision on whether to concede, but said a drawn-out recount would hurt Republican chances in November’s general election.

“The longer we Republicans stay in neutral, the further behind we will be,” he said.

Kobach called his news conference moments after the stunning setback for Colyer’s hopes in Johnson County.

Colyer had handily won the state’s most populous county and was counting on picking up additional votes there.

But instead of gaining votes, Colyer fell 24 further behind Kobach, giving Kobach his 345-vote cushion.

The two candidates were separated by 191 votes in the unofficial tally after last Tuesday’s primary.

Colyer’s failure to do well in Johnson County disappointed campaign staffers on hand in Olathe to watch the board of canvassers’ meeting.

“It is what it is,” said Clay Barker, special assistant to Colyer and former executive director of the Kansas Republican Party.

The Johnson County setback for team Colyer came only hours after Kobach had picked up an additional 94 votes in the Sedgwick County canvass Tuesday morning.

Sedgwick County agreed to count an additional 1,326 disputed and provisional ballots on Monday.

The final count in Sedgwick County was 19,937 votes for Kobach and 16,168 for Colyer.

Leavenworth County also held its canvass Tuesday, where Kobach picked up an additional 18 votes compared to the results reported election night. The final count there was Kobach 3,881; Colyer 2,591.

On Monday, Kobach picked up 22 votes in Butler County, where the final tally was Kobach 4,381; Colyer, 3007.

Among the remaining larger counties, Shawnee, Douglas, Reno and Wyandotte are scheduled to canvass their results Thursday.

Colyer led big in Shawnee and Douglas counties after Tuesday’s primary and would be expected to pick up some votes there.

Reno County was close to tied in the so-far unofficial results, and Wyandotte appears to favor Kobach.

An hour before the Johnson County canvassing board began its meeting, Colyer’s legal team sent the board a letter arguing that 153 ballots that had been discarded because of mismatching signatures should be included in the county’s final vote tally.

Colyer’s legal team argued that Kansas law does not require a signature match as a precondition for counting a ballot.

Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita and a Kobach supporter, sent a warning tweet Tuesday afternoon, saying: “Democrats are hoping for a drawn-out litigation process because it’s the only way they can win this November. It’s time for the @KansasGOP to unite & back whoever comes out on top this week. Let’s keep Kansas red!”

This story was originally published August 14, 2018 at 6:09 PM.