By Jessica Lucas
Watkins Public Strategies

As we saw across the country, Republicans had a stellar night in Kansas on Tuesday. The Senate held the super majority and picked up two seats. They'll begin the session in January with 31 members. Democrats Usha Reddi (Manhattan) and Jeff Pittman (Leavenworth) were defeated; Pittman lost by 61 votes, so there is a slim possibility the outcome could change as votes are counted through Friday at noon.

In the House, Republicans held all their seats plus defeated Democrats Jason Probst (Hutchinson), Allison Houglund (Olathe), and Dennis Miller (Olathe). Democrat Nikki McDonald is holding onto a narrow lead over her challenger that could also dissipate as the final votes are tallied through Friday. She's up 95 votes at the time of this writing.

Historic investments were made by both parties and outside groups, including the Governor's Middle of the Road PAC. She raised $2M to defeat the super majority and wakes today to an even larger Republican majority that will be laser-focused on advancing the issues they've found tough to get across the finish line with her veto ability. Coupled with the Speaker and President's focus on building their own budget, instead of following the traditional Governor-led budget process, the session will start with Republicans firmly in control, despite a Democratic governor.

What's Next

The House and Senate will hold leadership elections on Monday, Dec. 2. Only one position in the Senate - Senate Vice President - is being vacated voluntarily. The House has a competitive assistant majority leader race shaping up, and the House Democrats will elect a new leader. Speaker Hawkins and President Masterson are expected to retain their roles with no competition and once leadership elections conclude, will make their committee assignments. That's where we'll see new faces in new places and the most change. Because of the election results, there will likely be at least one additional seat on committees for Republican members. Seats are apportioned based on the makeup of the House and Senate by party, and the Democrat's losses will cost them committee seats in the House and Senate.

The results regarding our federal delegation and Kansas' vote in the Trump/Harris race were as expected. President Trump received 57 percent of the vote, similar to his performances in 2016 and 2020, and a far better outcome for Trump than the Docking poll predicted earlier in the week.

For the 4 Congressional seats, Kansans voted as follows:

• District 1: Incumbent Republican Tracy Mann won reelection in the Big First with 70%.
  
• District 2: In the race to replace retiring Rep. Jake LaTurner-R, former Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt (R) beat one-time Congresswoman Nancy Boyda (D) 57 to 38.
  
• District 3: Incumbent Sharice Davids (D) defended her seat for the third time, beating cancer doctor Prasanth Reddy 53 to 43.
  
• District 4: Incumbent Republican Ron Estes won his Wichita-area race with 65% of the vote.