In a rebuke to a key ally of President Trump, voters in Kansas on Tuesday rejected Republican Kris Kobach and instead elected Democrat Laura Kelly as their next governor.
Networks called the race around 10 p.m. Tuesday, with about 40 percent of the vote counted. Ms. Kelly, a member of the state Senate, had over 51 percent while Mr. Kobach had about 40 percent.
Mr. Kobach, currently serving as Kansas’ secretary of state, is a leading figure in the conservative push for stricter immigration laws. He also was a co-chair of Mr. Trump’s voter fraud panel, which took shape in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election.
Mr. Trump endorsed Mr. Kobach in the final days of the GOP primary, choosing the secretary of state over incumbent Gov. Jeff Colyer.
Democrats celebrated Mr. Kobach’s loss and cast it as a rejection of the Trump agenda.
“Kobach’s defeat is a huge repudiation of failed Republican policies,” billionaire Democratic activist Tom Steyer said on Twitter. “The people of Kansas no longer want to live in a world where the ideology of suppression and hate reigns supreme. Congrats to @SenatorKelly on the win.”
Frank Sharry, executive director of the leading immigration advocacy group America’s Voice, said Mr. Kobach lost because he’d established himself as “one of the leading anti-immigrant voices in American politics.”
“He has a long history of vilifying immigrants and pushing repressive policies. He has inflicted pain on millions. It finally caught up with him,” he said in a statement. “Thank you, Kansas, for standing up to hate and division and standing up for decency and fairness.”
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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