WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Kansas City-area businessman Greg Or-man’s name will appear on the Nov. 6 ballot as an independent candidate for Kansas governor, presenting a new obstacle to Democratic efforts to defeat conservative Kris Kobach in November.
The state Secretary of State’s office on Friday posted a short statement saying Orman had presented enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot along with his running mate, John Doll.
Orman, 49, will face Democratic State Sen. Laura Kelly of Topeka and Kobach, whose nomination was only settled this week after Gov. Jeff Colyer conceded in a primary with a razor-thin margin of some 350 votes out of more than 316,000 cast.
Orman says he’s in the race to win and rejects suggestions that his role will be as a spoiler who complicates Democrats’ efforts to recapture the governor’s office after eight years of Republicans.
Democrats were gearing up for a potential legal challenge to Orman’s filing. Many Democrats have worried that Orman will pull votes away from Kelly, 68, making it far easier for Kobach, who is the secretary of state.
The GOP began a clean sweep of statewide and congressional races in 2010. But the state also has a solid bloc of moderate GOP and independent voters and a history over the past 50 years of alternating between electing Republican and Democratic governors. Orman says he can build a coalition starting with voters upset with both parties, and he cites the value of having an independent governor who will lack “natural political enemies.”
Kobach, 52, is a favorite of President Donald Trump and has a national conservative following thanks to his strong stance against illegal immigration and his fervent defense of voter ID laws.
Orman ran as an independent against U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts in 2014 and did so well in initial polling that the Democratic candidate dropped out to create a better chance of toppling the veteran Republican. Orman lost by 10.5 percentage points after Roberts got campaign help from several GOP stalwarts, including Sarah Palin, Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul.
