BY: SHERMAN SMITH and Anna Kaminski
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — Democrat Cindy Holscher cemented her victory in the Kansas governor’s race Thursday as a statewide audit confirmed her narrow lead over Republican Ty Masterson, who conceded.
Holscher will take office in January, succeeding two-term Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. Holscher had already met with Kelly and her staff to begin work on the transition.
“Thank you, Kansas!” Holscher said. “It’s the honor of a lifetime to serve as your next governor.”
Unofficial election results from the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office show her with 7,644 votes more than Masterson. Because the margin was less than 1 percentage point, state law required each county to audit the ballots from 10% of precincts.
Several counties had yet to finish their audit Thursday, but the Associated Press had seen enough to call the race at 4:43 p.m. Masterson issued a statement 15 minutes later.
“I’ve called Senator Holscher to congratulate her on her election,” Masterson said. “It has been the honor of my life to carry the Republican banner for the state I love. This was a hard election for people who share our vision, here and across the country. But I believe in this state and in the people who live here, and that hasn’t changed.”
Masterson, of Andover, has served in the Legislature since 2005, including the past six years as Senate president. Holscher, of Overland Park, served two two-year terms in the House and is midway through her second four-year term in the Senate.
The election results won’t be official until the state certifies them on Dec. 1. County commissions have until Monday to consider an unknown number of provisional ballots, which aren’t expected to change the outcome of the race, and certify their county’s results.
In a statement earlier this week, Holscher thanked the voters who placed their trust in her.
“And if you voted a different way,” she said, “I want you to hear this directly from me: I will be your governor, too. My job is to serve every Kansan, and I will spend every day working to earn your trust, because what we share as Kansans will always be bigger than what divides us.”
Holscher’s win means state Rep. KC Ohaebosim, a Wichita Democrat who ran as her lieutenant governor, will become the second Black Kansan to be elected to statewide office — following a 140-year gap.
Close-race audits
Following the Nov. 3 election, the Secretary of State’s Office initiated close-race audits for governor, attorney general, secretary of state and three House seats.
The AP called the attorney general’s race on Friday when it became clear that Democrat Chris Mann had defeated Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach. The AP hasn’t yet called the race for secretary of state, although Republican Pat Proctor leads Democrat Jennifer Day by more than 9,000 votes.
Day has not conceded, but Proctor on Tuesday announced he would retain three of current Secretary of State Scott Schwab’s top advisers.
“The people of Kansas entrusted me to serve them as their secretary of state because they believed in my vision to restore confidence in our elections and accelerate entrepreneurship in our state,” Proctor said. “These are big jobs and I need the right team around me if I’m going to get it done.”
State law automatically triggers close-race audits if a race’s results are within 1% of total votes tallied on election night, and county election officers across the state oversee hand counts of ballots in at least 10% of precincts.
Connie Schmidt, Johnson County’s head of elections, said Tuesday she was apprehensive about accomplishing the audit, which began there Monday, within two days. She called the crew of volunteers who worked on the first day of counting “dynamic.”
More than 30 counties were finishing audits Thursday, and they must be completed by Monday, so county commissions can certify the results.