The 2010 United States Senate election in Kansas took place on November 2, 2010, alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Sam Brownback did not seek a third term, but instead successfully ran for

Governor of Kansas A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

. Republican nominee Jerry Moran won the open seat.

Background

Sam Brownback was first elected to the Senate in 1996, replacing

Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican Leader of the Senate during the final 11 years of his te ...

, who resigned to run for President. Brownback stated that he would not run for re-election in 2010 because of self-imposed term limits. Kansas is one of the most Republican states in the nation; no Democrat has been elected to either Senate seat since 1932.

Democratic primary

Candidates

* Robert Conroy, retired railroad employee * David Haley, state senator * Lisa Johnston, administrator at Baker University * Charles Schollenberger, retired communications executive * Patrick Wiesner, attorney and CPA

Polling

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

* Tom Little, accountant * Bob Londerholm, former

Attorney General of Kansas The Attorney General of Kansas is a statewide elected official responsible for providing legal services to the state government of Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city i ...

* Jerry Moran, U.S. Representative * Todd Tiahrt, U.S. Representative

Campaign

The retirement of Brownback, a popular U.S. Senator, led to a heavily competitive primary election. Tiahrt, who was on the Committee of Appropriations, had been accused of excessive earmarking while he was in Congress. From 2006 to 2008, Tiahrt had requested and supported a total of 63 solo earmarks, costing $53.9 million. In the same period, Moran had requested and supported a total of 29 earmarks, with a pricetag of $13.4 million.

Endorsements

Moran

Tiahrt

Polling

Results

General election

Candidates

Major

* Jerry Moran (R), U.S. Representative
campaign sitePVSFEC
* Lisa Johnston (D), Baker University administrator
campaign sitePVSFEC

Minor

* Michael Dann (L)
campaign sitePVS
* Joe Bellis (RE)
campaign sitePVS

Campaign

Kansas is a very red state, where no Democrat has won a U.S. Senate election since 1932. After the primary, Moran chose not to release any more negative advertisements. Democrat Lisa Johnston ran a low-profile, quiet race. On election day, she won only two counties: Wyandotte County and Douglas County, while Moran won statewide by a landslide.

Debates

The two never met for a debate.

Predictions

Polling

Fundraising

Results

References

External links

Kansas Secretary of State - Elections & Legislative

U.S. Congress candidates for Kansas
at Project Vote Smart
Kansas U.S. Senate
from OurCampaigns.com
Campaign contributions
from

Open Secrets ''Open Secrets'' () is a book of short story, short stories by Alice Munro published by McClelland and Stewart in 1994 in literature, 1994. It was nominated for the 1994 Governor General's Awards, 1994 Governor General's Award for English Fiction ...

2010 Kansas Senate General Election: Jerry Moran (R) vs Lisa Johnston (D)
graph of multiple polls from ''Pollster.com''
Election 2010: Kansas Senate
from Rasmussen Reports
2010 Kansas Senate Race
from

CQ Politics Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is part of a privately owned publishing company called CQ Roll Call that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress. CQ was acquired by the Economist Group and combined ...

Race profile
from The New York Times
News coverage
from ''The Midwest Democracy Project'' at The Kansas City Star ;Official candidate sites (Archived) ;Debates
Kansas Senate Republican Primary Debate

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

, July 6, 2010
Lisa Johnston for U.S. Senate

Jerry Moran for U.S. Senate

Charles Schollenberger for U.S. Senate

Todd Tiahrt for U.S. Senate
{{United States general elections, 2010 2010 Kansas elections Kansas

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...