A general election was held in the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

on November 6, 2018. Primary elections were held on August 7, 2018. Voters elected all six executive officers, the lower house of the

state legislature A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...

, and all of the state's delegations to the

U.S. House The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

U.S. House of Representatives

Kansas elected four U.S. representatives, one for each

congressional districts Congressional districts, also known as electoral districts and legislative districts, electorates, or wards in other nations, are divisions of a larger administrative region that represent the population of a region in the larger congressional bod ...

. In 2018, the delegation's Republican majority changed from 4–0 to 3–1, the first time Democrats have held a seat in the state since

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 ...

Governor and Lieutenant Governor

Incumbent Republicans

Jeff Colyer Jeffrey William Colyer (born June 3, 1960) is an American surgeon and politician who served as the 47th governor of Kansas from January 31, 2018, to January 14, 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was the 49th lieutenant governor of Kans ...

and

Tracey Mann Tracey Robert Mann (born December 17, 1976) is an American businessman and politician who has served as the U.S. representative from Kansas's 1st congressional district since 2021. The district, popularly known as "the Big First," includes par ...

lost their party's renomination in a tight primary election won by Secretary of State

Kris Kobach Kris William Kobach ( ; born March 26, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician who is the Attorney General of Kansas. He previously served as the 31st Secretary of State of Kansas. A former Chairman of the Kansas Republican Party, Kobach came ...

and businessman

Wink Hartman A wink is a facial expression made by briefly closing one eye. A wink is an informal mode of non-verbal communication usually signaling shared hidden knowledge or intent. However, it is ambiguous by itself and highly dependent upon additional ...

by a margin of around 0.1 percent. Democrats nominated state senators

Laura Kelly Laura Jeanne Kelly (born January 24, 1950)"Laura Kelly,"
''Kansapedia,''

and

Lynn Rogers Lynn Leroy Rogers (born 1939) is an American biologist who studies wild black bears and is known as the ''Jane Goodall of bears''. He is the founder of the North American Bear Center. He teaches a yearly black bear field study course for the W ...

, with businessman

Greg Orman Gregory John Orman (born December 2, 1968) is an American politician, businessman, and entrepreneur. He ran as an independent to represent Kansas in the United States Senate in the 2014 election, earning 42.5 percent of the vote and losing to i ...

and state senator John Doll joining the race as independents. Polls leading up to the election had Kobach and Kelly running close, leading to many news outlets predicting a tossup election. Kelly won the election, beating Kobach by five percentage points. Kelly became the oldest governor in Kansas history, taking office at the age of 68.

Secretary of state

Incumbent Republican secretary of state

retired to run for governor, leaving the seat open. State representative

Scott Schwab Scott Joseph Schwab (born July 9, 1972) is an American politician serving as the 32nd Secretary of State of Kansas. He served as a member of the Kansas House of Representatives, representing the 49th district, from 2009 to 2019. He also served as ...

won the Republican primary amidst a number of candidates, while Democratic nominee Brian McClendon ran unopposed after his challengers withdrew. Schwab won the election.

Republican primary

Democratic primary

General election

Attorney general

Incumbent Republican

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

Derek Schmidt Derek Larkin Schmidt (born January 23, 1968) is an American lawyer and politician who has been the Kansas Attorney General since 2011. A Republican, Schmidt was first elected to office serving in the Kansas Senate, where he represented the 15th ...

ran for re-election to a third term. He successfully defeated Democratic nominee Sarah Swain by 18 points.

Republican primary

Democratic primary

General election

Treasurer

Incumbent Republican

treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury o ...

Jake LaTurner Jacob Andrew Joseph LaTurner (born February 17, 1988) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Kansas's 2nd congressional district. A member of the Republican Party, LaTurner was the 40th Kansas State Treasurer from 2017 ...

was appointed to the office on April 25, 2017, following the resignation of his predecessor

Ron Estes Ronald Gene Estes ( ; born July 19, 1956) is an American politician, engineer, and farmer who has been the U.S. representative for since April 2017. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Kansas State Treasurer from 2011 to 2017. A fif ...

to join the U.S. House of Representatives. He ran for election to a full term, defeating his Democratic challenger State Senator

Marci Francisco Marci Francisco (born April 22, 1950) is an American politician who currently serves as the Kansas State Senator from the 2nd district, a position she has held since 2005. Early career She was a city commissioner of Lawrence, Kansas, from 1979 ...

by 15.49 points.

Republican primary

Democratic primary

General election

Insurance Commissioner

Incumbent Republican

Insurance Commissioner An insurance commissioner (or commissioner of insurance) is a public official in the executive branch of a state or territory in the United States who, along with his or her office, regulate the insurance industry. The powers granted to the office ...

Ken Selzer Ken Selzer (born April 25, 1953) is an American politician who served as the Kansas Insurance Commissioner from 2015 to 2019. He ran for Governor of Kansas in the 2018 gubernatorial election and came in fourth in the Republican primary with 7.82 ...

retired to run for governor, leaving the seat open. Republican state senators

Vicki Schmidt Vicki Schmidt (born September 15, 1955) is an American politician who is currently the Kansas Insurance Commissioner. She was a Republican member of the Kansas Senate, representing the 20th district, from 2005 to 2019. She also served as the Sena ...

and

Clark Shultz Clark Shultz (born 1957) is a former Republican member of the Kansas Senate, having represented the 35th district. Following the resignation of Jay Emler in January 2014, he was selected to take the position by Precinct and Township Republican ...

competed in a close primary, with Schmidt winning the nomination. The Democratic nominee was president of the Kansas

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

Nathaniel McLaughlin. Schmidt won the election with the highest vote percentage of any statewide candidate.

Republican primary

Democratic primary

General election

State Board of Education

State House of Representatives

The

Kansas House of Representatives The Kansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. Composed of 125 state representatives from districts with roughly equal populations of at least 19,000, its members are responsible for craftin ...

held elections for all 125 seats in 2018. Republicans maintained their supermajority in the chamber, with neither parties making any gains.

References

{{2018 United States elections