Chris Mann Beats Kris Kobach in Kansas Attorney General Rematch

Democrat Chris Mann has defeated Republican incumbent Kris Kobach in the race for Kansas attorney general, according to a race call by the Associated Press on Friday, November 6. The call ended three days of waiting in a close race.

Unofficial results put Mann at 551,468 votes, or 50.6 percent, and Kobach at 538,647 votes, or 49.4 percent. The margin was a bit over one percentage point, close enough that the race went through a state close race audit before the call. Mann declared victory in the early hours of Wednesday, November 4, but Kobach did not concede while the audit and the remaining count played out.

A rematch four years in the making

The result reverses the 2022 race between the same two men. Kobach won that contest by about 16,000 votes, or 0.6 percentage points, according to reporting by The Topeka Capital-Journal. National Democrats treated the rematch as a priority and put more money behind Mann. National Republicans worked to defend Kobach, a recent leader of the Republican Attorneys General Association.

Mann will be the first Democrat to hold the Kansas attorney general office since 2011, and he is set to take office in January 2027. His win came on a night that reshaped Kansas politics. Voters also elected the state first Democratic United States senator in nearly a century, chose a Democratic governor, and ended the Republican supermajority in the Statehouse, according to KCUR.

Two very different records

Mann is a former police officer whose patrol career ended after a drunk driver struck him during a traffic stop. He then worked as a prosecutor, an advocate against drunk driving, and a lawyer for victims. In a statement declaring victory on November 4, he said: "I am proud to have earned the trust of so many Kansans. As Attorney General, I will show up for the people of Kansas every day, fighting to keep our communities safe and hold bad actors accountable."

On the campaign trail Mann accused Kobach of using the office for political theater and promised to expand the fight against fentanyl while refusing to litigate on a political agenda. Speaking on KCUR program Up to Date, he said: "The office is going to be focused squarely on public service. That is what the people of Kansas want."

Kobach built a national profile on hardline positions on immigration and voter fraud. As Kansas secretary of state he was the architect of a law that required proof of citizenship to register to vote, and he later joined President Donald Trump short lived voter fraud commission. He lost races for governor in 2018 and for the Senate in 2020. As attorney general he sued the United States Department of Education over a Title IX change and predicted that noncitizens voting in Kansas would number likely in the thousands. His office has found four such cases, according to KCUR.

Law enforcement support split between the two men. Kobach campaigned on the state lowest crime rate in more than 50 years and carried the endorsement of 50 Kansas sheriffs. Mann won the endorsement of the Kansas State Lodge Fraternal Order of Police, which represents more than 4,000 sworn officers. It was the first time the group had endorsed the Democratic candidate since 2002.