By Lucky Kidd
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson voters apparently have turned the westernmost Democrat in the Kansas Legislature out of office. Republican Kyler Sweely, who survived efforts to keep him off the ballot and a primary win over a candidate backed by Reno County Republican leaders, took 52 percent of the vote to 48 percent for State Representative Jason Probst in the 102nd District.
Voter turnout in the 102nd according to unofficial numbers from the Reno County Clerk’s office was about 45 percent The Probst-Sweely race saw a considerable amount of spending by independent groups, the largest part of which was on behalf of Sweely. These numbers do not reflect any provisional ballots still to be reviewed.
State Representative Paul Waggoner easily won re-election in the 104th district, downing Lynnette Kreiger Zook by a 64-36 percent margin.
State Representative Michael Murphy of Sylvia will head across the dome in January, as he defeated Shanna Henry 71 to 29 percent in the 34th Senate District of Reno, Kingman and Barber counties. Murphy, who succeeds Mark Steffen who did not seek a second term, is one of three area House members to win Senate seats Tuesday.
Representative Tory Marie Blew of Great Bend took the open 33rd District, which includes areas to the west of Reno County plus Rice County, getting 81 percent of the vote over Matthew Westenfeld to replace Senator Alicia Straub who gave up the seat for an unsuccessful run for Barton County Clerk. Representative Stephen Owens of Hesston will move to the Senate in the 31st district succeeding retiring Senator Carolyn McGinn in the Harvey and Sedgwick County district with 64 percent of the vote over Jason Miller.
Owens’ 74th District will remain in Republican hands as Mike King of Hesston took 70 percent of the vote over Jenna Ratzlaff of North Newton. The 112th House district also stays Republican as Sherri Brantley got 72 percent over Mark Rondeau. Also returning to Topeka is Representative Brett Fairchild of St. John, who took 77 percent of the vote over Jo Ann Roth of Ellinwood.
All three Incumbent House members in the Kansas Congressional Delegation won re-election Tuesday. Republicans Tracey Mann in the Big 1st District and Ron Estes in the 4th district won by wide margins, as did Democrat Sharice Davids in the 3rd. Joining them in the House half of Congress will be former Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who defeated former Congresswoman Nancy Boyda in the open 2nd District.
Current indications are Republicans will retain their super-majorities in both houses of the Kansas Legislature and possibly gain a little. There is one Senate race in northeast Kansas that will likely go to a recount as Republican Jeff Klemp has a 61-vote lead over Democratic incumbent Jeff Pittman in the Leavenworth area 5th district.
In LaCrosse Alan Sramek defeated Gabriel Proffitt for an unexpired term on the City Commission
COUNTY RACES
Richard Winger and Ron Vincent will join the Reno County Commission in January. Winger, who defeated appointed incumbent John Whitesel in the August Republican primary, was elected to the final two years of a term Whitesel was appointed to in January, 2023 with 53 percent of the vote over 47 percent for Lindsey Hatfield. Vincent took 65 percent of the vote to 35 percent for Garth Strand in the 3rd district, where he succeeds retiring Commissioner Daniel Friesen.
In Rice County, Nick Sowers captured 78 percent of the vote for Sheriff, with a write-in effort by Incumbent Bryant Evans, who Sowers defeated in the August primary, getting 22 percent. 3rd District County Commissioner Terry David won re-election with 55 percent of the vote to 44 for Libertarian candidate Seth Cordell.
In Great Bend, Gary Parr defeated incumbent Ward 1 City Council member Lindsey Crom-Craven in the only contested race in Barton County. Great Bend voters also approved renewal of a half percent sales tax that is used for public safety infrastructure, economic development and property tax relief. In Ellinwood USD 355 voters approved an $8.5 million dollar bond issue for improvements to district facilities.
In Harvey County, voters by a 2-1 margin approved repeal of the 30 percent food requirement for liquor by the drink, joining McPherson and Reno Counties in making that move. Amy Perkins, who won a heated primary for Harvey County Treasurer, won the general election for that position, with incumbent Don Schroeder re-elected 3rd District County Commissioner and Terry Scott elected 2nd District Commissioner to succeed retiring Commissioner Randy Hague.
Marion County voters turned out a second County Commissioner Tuesday. Michael Beneke defeated incumbent David Mueller 55 to 45 percent in the Second Commission District, while Clarke Dirks, who defeated incumbent Randy Dalke in the August Republican primary, took 81 percent of the vote over Randall Eitzen, Dalke had announced a write-in bid for the office, how many votes he received is not known at this time. There are also write-in votes to be counted for Marion County Attorney, where the incumbent did not seek re-election and nobody else filed for the office.
