(Updated to include comments from House speaker and key Democratic lawmaker)
House Republicans appeared to build on their supermajority Tuesday night, flipping three Democratically held seats and defending robust challenges to lawmakers in suburban Johnson County.
Republicans knocked off Democratic state Reps. Jason Probst in Hutchinson, Allison Hougland of Olathe and Dennis Miller of Olathe, according to complete but unofficial results on Tuesday night.
Two of those lawmakers – Probst and Hougland – were just among a handful of legislators to win elections in legislative districts that were carried by former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election cycle.
The pickups appear to give the Republicans 88 seats in the House, three more than they currently have.
“The governor made it clear she would not support property tax relief in the next session and she raised a ton of outside special interest money and told lie on top of lie about school funding and abortion to try to mislead voters and stop our efforts,” House Speaker Dan Hawkins said.
“Quite frankly, the people of Kansas are much smarter than that and saw through their dishonesty and hateful rhetoric and voted to put a stop to their games,” he said in the statement on Wednesday morning.
Democratic state Rep. Brandon Woodard, a potential candidate for House minority leader who was active in raising money for Democratic House candidates, expressed optimism about the future regardless Tuesday’s outcome.
“To my incredible Sunflower State friends in Kansas, the Republicans expanded their supermajorities in both chambers,” Woodard posted on Facebook Wednesday morning.
“We ran the most impressive slate of candidates I have ever seen in my decade in this work, and unfortunately the people said ‘no’ to them,” he wrote.
“We saw the long-term gamesmanship of gerrymandering on full display last night.
“Although we do not have the numbers to protect Gov. Laura Kelly’s vetoes, the Kansan in me is ready for the challenge, optimistic for the future, and ready to make our voices heard. But I can’t do it without you,” he posted.
The Republican pickups were marked by the return of former state Rep. Charlotte Esau of Olathe, who was upset by Miller two years ago in House District 14. Esau held the seat from 2019 to 2023.
Hougland came up short against Republican Lauren Bohi by 131 votes.
Meanwhile, Republican state Reps. Carl Turner of Leawood, Laura Williams of Lenexa and Angela Stiens of Shawnee fought off challenges in campaigns that were targeted by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s political action committee.
Turner defeated Overland Park physician Ace Allen by 235 votes, according to complete but unofficial results. It was an improvement from the 60-vote deficit in Turner’s 2022 victory over Allen from two year ago.
The governor’s Middle of the Road political action committee put about $44,500 into this race. A group affiliated with the American Civil Liberties Union put another 38,000 into this race opposing Turner.
The Republican House Campaign Committee put about $74,000 into this race for Turner.
Meanwhile, Williams defeated Lenexa lawyer Betsey Lasister by 591 votes to hold on to her House District 30 seat.
Gov. Laura Kelly won this district with 56.2% of the vote in 2022 and President Joe Biden won the district with 50.2% of the vote in 2020.
This was another district where the abortion issue was raised but came up short.
Democrats sent out mailers attacking Williams, saying she wants to criminalize abortion without exceptions and supported a bill requiring abortion clinics to ask women to pick one of 11 reasons why they are seeking the procedure.
Lasister sent out mailers saying she would defend abortion rights and support rolling back government measures restricting access to the procedure. The constitutional amendment on abortion was defeated in this district with 65% of the vote.
Of all the races this year, the most topsy-turvy campaign was out in Hutchinson where Probst was trying to win a third term representing the 102nd District, but lost to Republican challenger Kyler Sweely by 249 votes.
The race took an unusual turn late in the campaign when a video was widely circulated showing Sweely jumping on apparently unconscious woman on a bed and then holding a pillow over her face.
Wichita police decided not to bring charges stemming from the video after receiving a police report. The woman in the video said no crime had been committed and she was not a victim.
Earlier in the campaign, Sweely’s candidacy to run for the Legislature was challenged because it was argued that he didn’t live at his stated residence at 306th E. Seventh Ave. in Hutchinson.
Robin Jackson, the secretary of the Reno County Republican Party, said she drove by the house and it appeared to be vacant with knee-high grass and covered windows.
But the State Objections Board ultimately upheld his residency after he documented that he signed a lease to move into that location on May 29, two days before he filed to run for the House.
Nevertheless, Probst stirred the residency questions and whether Sweely had any roots in the community. Probst posted a copy Sweely’s lease on Facebook showing that it started on June 1 of this year and ended Dec. 1.
An outside group that was incorporated in Delaware but has a Topeka address dropped a mailer against Probst. The mailer from the Flint Hills Opportunity Institute highlighted a business bankruptcy and that Probst had his wages garnished.
Probst said the restaurant bankruptcy occurred in about 1995 or 1996 before he was 21 years old and his daughter was still an infant. Probst said the garnishment didn’t happen and that he paid his debt before it reached that point.
Republican Angel Roeser of Manhattan prevailed in House District 67 where Democrat Kim Zito lost for the second straight election cycle after Republicans spotlighted her Facebook postings. Zito lost by six percentage point this year compared to about five points in 2022.
For the second straight election, Zito had to defend Facebook posts, including one from Nov. 9, 2020, where she wrote, “FUCK YOU” followed by a racial slur. Republicans have run ads highlighting profanities that she wrote on Facebook.
Two years ago, Zito had to explain a social media post where she said she wanted the Catholic Church to “go extinct.” She told the Manhattan Mercury that the remark was taken out of context.
Roeser wasn’t without her issues as well.
The Manhattan Mercury reported that Roeser didn’t have a degree from Kansas State University, although she claimed otherwise.
The Manhattan Mercury reported that Roeser wrongly claimed to have voted on the abortion amendment in the 2022 primary election.
During a debate on Sept. 26, Zito accused Roeser of not voting on the amendment that would have removed the right to an abortion from the state constitution.
The newspaper also reported that Roeser responded by saying she did vote in that election.
The newspaper followed up on Roeser’s claim and reported that while Roeser did register to vote on March 16, 2022, as Angelina Vy Layfield, there was no voting history that showed she voted in the 2022 primary election.
Roeser told The Mercury she was certain that she voted in the 2022 primary.
She said she could have registered under the name Tran because she changed her last name from Layfield to Tran at about that time.
But the newspaper reported that no records show any votes cast under the name Tran.
