Incumbent Democrat Laura Kelly Narrowly Keeps Seat in Kansas Governor Race

 Incumbent Kansas Democrat Gov. Laura Kelly has secured a second term in an extremely close election against Republican challenger state Attorney General Derek Schmidt, NBC News projects. 

Both NBC News and CNN called the race on Wednesday morning after waiting for remaining vote counts to trickle in. By 10:30 a.m. ET, Kelly was ahead of Schmidt by roughly 15,000 votes, 49.2 percent to 47.6 percent. Independent candidate Dennis Pyle syphoned off 2 percent of the votes. 

By the time NBC News declared a projection, 98 percent of expected votes had been counted with nearly 24,000 estimated votes remaining.

Kelly will remain in office come January — she promised during a debate against Schmidt to “continue to do more of what we have been doing for the past four years.” She also said she hopes education in Kansas will be her legacy after the completion of her second term and has touted her record of fully funding schools.

The battle remained close throughout the summer and beginning of fall, though not much polling was done on the race. Kansas Attorney General Schmidt focused his campaign on the more extreme aspects of Kelly’s time in office, including school closures during the pandemic and her embrace of radical gender ideology and late-term abortion. Schmidt also enjoyed the endorsements of several conservative heavyweights, including former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). 

Kelly pitched herself as a moderate Democrat and tried to tie Schmidt to former Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R), who was not very popular in the state. She often focused her attention on tax-related issues, the creation of more government programs and committees, and child welfare services, and dodged key questions about where she stands on more divisive social issues. 

Kelly spent roughly double of what Schmidt spent through October — more than $7 million, according to Fox News. Outside groups pushed past $40 million on television ads.