Democrat Laura Kelly elected Kansas governor, defeating Republican Kris Kobach and flipping party control of seat

Democrat Laura Kelly has won the hotly contested Kansas governor’s race even though Republican Kris Kobach played up his ties to President Donald Trump.

Kelly prevailed over Kobach in Tuesday’s election with independent candidate and Kansas City-area businessman Greg Orman trailed far behind them.

Kelly is a veteran state senator from Topeka. She made the election a referendum on former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s ill-fated 2012-13 experiment in slashing state income taxes that legislators largely reversed in 2017.

Kobach promised to shrink government and cut taxes again.

He is Kansas secretary of state and built a national profile as an advocate of tough immigration policies and strict voter identification laws.

Kobach was an early 2016 backer of Trump and served as vice chairman of Trump’s now-disbanded commission on voter fraud.

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