Senior Kan. lawmaker re-elected to state Senate
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – The Kansas Legislature’s longest-serving member has been re-elected to the Senate by holding off a surprising spirited attempt by Republicans to oust him.
Senate Democratic leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka defeated GOP challenger Casey Moore in Tuesday’s election in the 19th District. Moore is a fellow Topeka resident, and Moore made Hensley’s longevity an issue and attacked him as a liberal.
Hensley has served as the Senate minority leader since 1997 and is a vocal critic of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.
In 1976, Hensley was elected to the House from a relatively safe Democrat district in Topeka, and he served 16 years before winning his Senate seat.
Moore described himself as a preacher and investor. He founded a local nonprofit religious group in 2009.
KANSAS LEGISLATURE-SENATE 21
GOP Kan. House member wins KC-area Senate seat
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) – A conservative Republican in the Kansas House has won a new, open Senate seat created by political redistricting.
Rep. Greg Smith of Overland Park won Tuesday’s election in the 21st District of Johnson County. He defeated Democrat and retired hospital administrator Juanita Roy of Lenexa.
Smith’s desire for higher office was a factor in a nasty battle between GOP factions in the Legislature that prevented it from passing any redistricting legislation. Federal judges redrew political boundaries instead.
Smith is a teacher and former police officer elected to the House in 2010. He and his wife also formed a nonprofit foundation to combat violent crime after one of his daughters was murdered in 2007.
Roy is married to a former Kansas House member whose father was a Kansas congressman.
KANSAS LEGISLATURE-SENATE 3
Kan. Dems’ ex-gov. nominee keeps state Senate seat
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) – Kansas Republicans have failed to unseat a Democratic state senator ran unsuccessfully for governor two years ago.
Sen. Tom Holland of Baldwin City defeated conservative Republican state Rep. Anthony Brown of Eudora in Tuesday’s election in the 3rd Senate District of northeast Kansas. The GOP had seen Holland’s race as one of its best opportunities for picking up a Senate seat.
Holland was the Democratic nominee for governor in 2010, losing handily to conservative Republican Sam Brownback. He is a vocal critic of Brownback’s policies, including aggressive income tax cuts this year seen by critics as likely to cause major budget problems.
Brown has sometimes criticized the governor for not being conservative enough. He is chairman of the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee.
KANSAS LEGISLATURE-SENATE 6
Kan. state senator who switched to GOP loses race
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) – Democrats defeated a Kansas state senator who was seeking re-election after switching to the Republican Party following an earlier, failed bid for higher office.
Sen. Chris Steineger of Kansas City lost Tuesday’s election in the 6th Senate District in northeast Kansas to former state Rep. Pat Pettey, also from Kansas City.
Steineger is a member of one of the area’s most prominent political families, and he’d served in the Senate since 1997. But most of his district is in the Democratic stronghold of Wyandotte County.
He switched parties in December 2010, four months after losing a primary for secretary of state. Democratic legislative leaders had endorsed Steineger’s opponent.
Pettey spent four years in the House before serving in local government in Wyandotte County.
KANSAS US HOUSE-1ST DISTRICT
Huelskamp wins unopposed US House race in Kansas
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) – Freshman U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp has coasted to an easy re-election victory to represent the 1st Congressional District in Kansas.
The conservative Republican incumbent was unopposed in the primary election and faced no Democratic challenger in Tuesday’s general election.
He has promised to work for the repeal of the federal health care overhaul after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law.
Huelskamp, a Kansas farmer, has boasted on his campaign website that as a former state senator he led the state’s effort to defund Planned Parenthood in Kansas and prohibit taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research. He has said he would do the same in Congress.
KANSAS US HOUSE-2ND DISTRICT
US Rep. Jenkins wins 3rd term in Kan. 2nd District
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Republican U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins has been re-elected in Kansas’ 2nd District.
Jenkins, a former state legislator and treasurer, defeated Topeka pastor Tobias Schlingensiepen (shling-ehn-SEE’-pehn) in Tuesday’s election.
The district covers much of eastern Kansas. Because of new boundaries drawn in June, the district includes all of Lawrence and Douglas County, which had previously been in the 3rd District.
Jenkins, of Topeka, campaigned on jobs and the economy, vowing to continue to fight back government regulations on small businesses.
In his first political campaign, Schlingensiepen won a three-way Democratic primary in August.
The last Democrat to hold the seat was Nancy Boyda who lost to Jenkins in 2008.
KANSAS US HOUSE-3RD DISTRICT
GOP Yoder wins 2nd US House term in northeast Kan.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Freshman Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder has won re-election for a second term in the 3rd District congressional race in northeast Kansas.
Yoder won Tuesday in his race against Libertarian Joel Balam. The former Kansas House Appropriations Committee Chairman from Overland Park was unopposed in the August GOP primary and Democrats didn’t field a candidate for the general election.
The district covers all of Johnson, Wyandotte and the northern portion of Miami counties. The district was redrawn in June to reflect changes in the 2010 census.
Yoder gained unwanted notoriety during the summer when reports surfaced that he swam nude in the Sea of Galilee during a congressional junket to Israel in August 2011. The action earned Yoder a rebuke from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
KANSAS US HOUSE-4TH DISTRICT
GOP Pompeo wins south-central Kan. US House race
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) – Freshman U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo has defeated Democratic challenger Robert Tillman to represent the 4th House District in south-central Kansas.
The conservative Republican incumbent campaigned on cutting government spending and repealing the federal health care law. He bucked the rest of the state’s all-Republican delegation with his support for ending wind energy tax credits.
Pompeo was elected in 2010 to his first term and was re-elected on Tuesday.
Tillman spent 30 years working on social issues, including 24 years as a court services officer. Tillman supports raising taxes on the top 1 percent of wage earners to help balance the budget.
The last Democrat to hold the 4th District seat was Dan Glickman, who lost to Tiahrt in 1994.
KANSAS-BOAT TAX
Kansas boat tax question winning
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Kansas voters were giving support to a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would change the way boats are taxed.
Unofficial returns early Wednesday indicated the measure was narrowly passing with 90 percent of the vote counted.
Voters were asked to add the words "and watercraft" to the constitution where it addresses levying property taxes. The measure was backed by the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism in hopes of encouraging more residents to purchase and register boats in the state.
The change would remove the classification of boats as "other" property, which is taxed at 30 percent of its value multiplied by the county’s property tax levy. Proponents say the change would encourage more Kansas boat ownership by making tax rates comparable to surrounding states.
KANSAS-DISCRIMINATION ORDINANCES
2 Kan. cities vote down anti-bias ordinances
SALINA, Kan. (AP) – Voters in two Kansas communities have rejected proposals to protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation.
In Salina, about 54 percent of voters Tuesday supported repeal of an anti-discrimination ordinance approved by the City Commission in June.
Hutchinson voters turned down a local proposal banning discrimination against gays, lesbians and bisexuals in housing, employment and public accommodations. Unofficial results showed 58 percent of voters opposed the measure.
The Wichita-based Kansas Family Policy Council praised the results in both cities.
KANSAS BOARD OF EDUCATION
Anti-evolution candidate loses Kan. schools board
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A Kansas state school board member has won re-election over a challenger who has an anti-evolution platform and ties to a Topeka church known for picketing military funerals.
Democrat Carolyn Campbell of Topeka won a second, four-year term on the State Board of Education in Tuesday’s election in the 4th District of northeast Kansas. She defeated Republican Jack Wu of Topeka.
The board is keeping a majority favoring evolution-friendly science standards for public schools. Wu said he’d end the teaching of evolution.
Wu has said he was drawn to Kansas from California in 2008 by Westboro Baptist Church. The Topeka church is led by the Rev. Fred Phelps Sr. and says soldiers’ deaths are God’s punishment for the U.S. tolerating homosexuality. Wu isn’t a member but attends services regularly.