TOPEKA — Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, clinging to a slim lead late Tuesday, told cheering supporters she expects to be declared the winner over Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt after the few remaining votes have been counted.
She took the stage at midnight at her watch party in downtown Topeka, flanked by family members — including her infant grandchild in a sunflower onesie — and Lt. Gov. David Toland.
“I believe today Kansans truly did vote to keep our state moving forward full speed,” Kelly said. “We will not go backward. Kansans voted for strong schools, for economic growth, for balanced budgets. And yes, they voted for a woman’s right to make her own choice.”
On the other side of town, Schmidt wasn’t prepared to accept defeat. The candidates were separated by about 15,000 votes with many of the remaining ballots in rural areas and an unknown number of early mail-in ballots expected to arrive throughout the week.
“We will unfortunately have to wait a bit longer to get the final verdict,” Schmidt told the GOP crowd at a watch party in Topeka. “We will get back to you as soon as we can.”
As of Wednesday morning, Kelly held a 49% to 48% lead over Schmidt with 975,907 votes counted. Kelly had received 479,875 votes to Schmidt’s 465,620.
Independent state Sen. Dennis Pyle, who entered the race to amplify the voice of the far right, had about 2% of the vote, while Libertarian Seth Cordell claimed 1% of the total.