Chris Mann and Kris Kobach are on a collision course in 2026.
They are setting up for a rematch of 2022 when Kobach edged out Mann in the campaign for attorney general.
While the race is a rerun from 2022, in many ways it will be different this time.
This time, Kobach is the incumbent with a record.
He has more distance from his courtroom troubles when he was secretary of state and from losing races for governor and the U.S. Senate.
“In 2022, I was saying here’s what I’m going to do, here’s what I hope to do,” Kobach said.
“In this election, I have a record of success and victory in court that shows I’ve kept my promises and won multiple big cases for the state of Kansas,” he said.
Mann, meanwhile, is trying to build on name recognition that he gained from his 2022 campaign and aiming to put Kobach on the defensive again.
“We came really close last time to beating Kobach. We’ve got a plan. We’ve got the resources to finish the job this time,” Mann said.
“I think people want someone who’s just going to get in there and do the work and not go out and try to grab headlines or position for the next office,” Mann said.
Three years ago, Kobach was considered vulnerable after losing the U.S. Senate primary in 2020 and the 2018 governor’s race to Democrat Laura Kelly.
His days as secretary of state were still fresh, including memories of the time he was held in contempt of court and ordered to take a continuing education course as he personally defended a state law requiring proof of citizenship for registering to vote.
Now, Kobach is positioned differently.
He’s made a mark during his first term suing former President Joe Biden’s administration where he’s enjoyed a series of courtroom successes.
He’s taken on a national leadership position as the chair of the Republican Attorneys General Association.
He successfully challenged a rule prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation at federally funded schools.
He got a federal judge to block the federal government from extending Affordable Care Act coverage to immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children.
And he won a battle against a Biden administration rule requiring states to reduce tail-pipe emissions on the federal highway system.
During his term, Kobach successfully advocated for a bill that eliminated the $100 fee that’s charged for concealed-carry permits plus the $25 renewal fee and any late fees.
He and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, which is under the attorney general’s jurisdiction, signed an agreement with the federal government to allow KBI agents to help enforce immigration law.
The agreement was credited with the recent arrest of 10 immigrants who were living in the United States illegally who had been convicted of serious crimes.
There have been defeats, too.
He lost a legal battle to force Gov. Kelly to turn over food assistance information to President Donald Trump’s administration.
And the state Supreme Court recently upheld an appeal that reversed an injunction barring gender marker changes on driver’s licenses. The case is still ongoing.
The attorney general also has engaged in high-pitched legal battles with the governor.
He’s tried to stop the governor from joining a lawsuit against Trump’s administration, saying state law did not give Kelly the authority under state law to bring the litigation.
Meanwhile, the governor has fired back with her own lawsuit, asking the Kansas Supreme Court to resolve questions about whether the attorney general solely directs and controls litigation involving the state.
“To date, Attorney General Kobach’s first term has been steady and disciplined,” said Republican consultant Eric Pahls.
“He’s taken the work head-on, earned credibility inside and outside Topeka, and proven he can run the office effectively,” Pahls said.
“That puts him in a very strong position going into reelection — and it should be a comfortable win,” he said.
Kobach said he was always optimistic in 2022 after he came through a Republican primary where he defeated Republican state Sen. Kellie Warren and Tony Mattivi, now the director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
“Even though my Democrat opponent was throwing everything at me that he could think of, I still felt the people of Kansas wanted a fighter in office who would not only sue the Biden administration whenever it violated federal statutes or the U.S. Constitution but also would keep our governor accountable,” Kobach said.
Kobach said he’s been willing to challenge the governor, going to court to stop her from allowing transgender Kansans from changing gender markers on driver’s licenses in what he says is a violation of SB 180, the Women’s Bill of Rights.
“I think in 2022, a lot of people saw the benefit of having an attorney general who holds the governor accountable,” he said, adding that he won support in the attorney general’s race from Kansans who for voted for Kelly in the gubernatorial election.
By comparison in 2022, Mann started as a relative unknown with a story to tell. He had plenty of money. And he had support from national Democrats.
He’s a former police officer whose law enforcement career was interrupted when he was struck by a drunk driver during a traffic stop.
After undergoing years of physical therapy to overcome the injuries from the crash, Mann decided to go to law school and received a full scholarship to attend Washburn University Law School.
Mann later served as an assistant district attorney in Wyandotte County from 2011 to 2013 and the national chair of the board of directors for Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Mann came up 15,892 votes short, out of almost 1 million cast, against Kobach in that 2022 election.
Looking back on 2022, Mann said he thought a lack of name ID hurt him.
“It’s all about getting your name out there,” Mann said in a recent interview.
“It costs a lot of money to get name recognition,” he said. “Kobach, obviously, has the highest name recognition of any politician because of the stunts that he pulls.
“I didn’t have that,” Mann said of the 2022 election.
“So, trying to raise that name recognition on a commonsense platform costs a lot of money because it doesn’t get a lot of headlines that are naturally generated because it’s not controversial, it’s not headline generating,” he said.
Former House Minority Leader Jim Ward of Wichita said there are election trends that should give optimism to the Mann campaign, notably the election of a Democratic governor in Virginia and the election of a Democratic state Senate candidate who defeated a Trump Republican in a special election in Iowa.
“If turnout is juiced a little bit with anti-Trump, if people who are in the middle and when in doubt vote Republican don’t, he’d have a chance,” Ward said.
“His job as the candidate is to remind people that you really don’t like Kobach,” Ward said.
“He’s the guy that you voted against for governor and against for the U.S. Senate.
“He’s the guy that hasn’t done the meat and potatoes of the A.G.’s office. He’s been on off on these federal crusades,” he said.
During the 2022 election cycle, Mann raised about $1.6 million compared to about $1.2 million for Kobach, who had to battle through a three-person primary that included Mattivi and Warren.
The last high-profile race for attorney general in Kansas — before 2022 — was 2010, when Democrat Steve Six defended the seat against Republican Derek Schmidt.
By comparison, Six raised $1 million in 2009 and 2010 in losing to Schmidt, who went on to hold the seat for the next 12 years.
“We may have raised a significant amount of money,” Mann said of 2022. “But it wasn’t enough to push all of the information to all of the places it needed to go.
“We’re redoubling our efforts, and we’re going to make sure that I’m out there in those places, physically, digitally, however we can be there,” he said.
In 2022, Mann carried six Kansas counties in his race against Kobach, winning Douglas, Wyandotte, Johnson, Riley, Shawnee and Lyon counties, according to data compiled by researchers at Wichita State University.
By comparison, Gov. Laura Kelly carried eight counties in a four-person field when she was reelected governor in 2022, winning the same six counties as Mann plus Sedgwick and Geary counties.
Mann outperformed Kelly in Douglas, Wyandotte and Johnson counties, although he ran in a two-person field in the general election.
He reached 60% in Johnson County, 68% in Wyandotte County and 77% in Douglas County.
But he came up short by Sedgwick and Geary counties while also underperforming the governor in many of the less populated western Kansas counties, where Kobach was able to secure enough votes to win the campaign.
Even in western Kansas counties where Kelly collected between 30% and 40% of the vote, Mann came up short of those numbers against Kobach.
In Finney County, for instance, Kelly received 40.7% of the vote compared to 37.5% for Mann in his race.
In Ford County, Kelly won 39.2% of the vote while Mann got 35.9% in the attorney general’s race.
In Seward County, Kelly collected 37.5% of the vote compared to 35.5% for Mann.
In Ellis County, the governor received 40.3% of the vote compared to 37.1% for Mann.
“I underperformed the governor out west in 2022, and we’re being intentional about fixing that,” Mann said.
“Over the last few weeks, I’ve been crisscrossing Western Kansas for events and plan to continue this push throughout the remainder of the campaign.
“Last cycle, we also did not have the resources to buy media in those markets. That’s going to be different this time,” he said.
“We’re putting real resources into western Kansas, potentially having dedicated campaign offices and meeting people where they are.”
Mann said that Kobach has made the office political, pointing to the special unit he created to challenge rules and regulations promulgated by the Biden administration.
“He has to defend the fact that he’s made this office political,” Mann said. “He’s got a special unit just for his political purview to make political lawsuits.
“He’s going after issues across the country that are hot-button issues for him, things that are going to make headlines, but he’s not doing things that are going to help the people of Kansas,” Mann said.
Mann questions why Kobach would not challenge efforts by the Trump administration to freeze education funding earlier this year, instead of asking the federal government to investigate whether Kansas school districts were violating federal law by allowing them to conceal from parents the “social transitioning” of their children.
He also suggested that Kobach should have supported a national lawsuit joined by the governor challenging the Trump administration’s decision to eliminated grants for public health, counterterrorism, transportation, infrastructure and education.
Kobach filed a brief in that case, arguing that Kelly did not have the authority under state law to bring the lawsuit on behalf of Kansas along with a coalition of attorneys general from Democratic-led states.
“He could have been on the front lines defending Kansas instead of attacking Kansas,” Mann said.
Mann was asked about the legal case pitting the governor against Kobach and who should have control over state litigation.
“Ultimately, the courts will make that decision. But my view is that Kansans deserve to be represented. Full stop,” Mann said.
“When nearly 200,000 Kansans were at risk of losing food assistance, Kris Kobach refused to join the lawsuit because he didn’t want to go against the federal government.
“And now he’s trying to block the governor from stepping in. He’s saying that not only will he not represent Kansans, but no one else can either? That’s absurd.”
Kobach dismisses any idea that he’s not trying to protect Kansans.
He said he sued the governor over food assistance benefits because her refusal to provide data sought by the U.S. Department of Agriculture would cost the state millions.
“The notion that I’m not looking out Kansans is 180 degrees false,” he said.
“I’m the one who’s actually protecting the supplemental nutrition assistance program — SNAP benefits — for Kansans who need to put food on the table,” he said.
He said the governor, meanwhile, has taken steps that would cost the state money.
“This notion that I’m not defending Kansans is ridiculous,” he said.
Kobach said his job as attorney general is to defend Kansas laws.
“I have been doing that and every time the governor has attempted to defy Kansas law or ignore Kansas law, I have stepped in to make sure that she’s follows the law.”
Three years ago, Kobach called into question answers that Mann gave during a debate when the candidates were asked how far they would go to defend state laws on the books.
At that time, Mann agreed it was the job of the state attorney general to defend state laws.
But he added there is a “threshold matter” at which point a decision is made about trying a case.
Citing an opinion authored by Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt, Mann said a decision must be made about whether a law is constitutional before going to court.
“You must first make sure that law is constitutional,” Mann said.
“If it is found constitutional, then you shall defend that law,” he said. “That’s the key.”
Kobach used Mann’s response in ads during the 2022 campaign, saying the Mann wouldn’t defend laws with which he disagrees.
In a recent interview, Mann gave a similar answer to his previous statement.
“The attorney general’s job is to uphold the laws that are passed by the Legislature, but it’s the Legislature’s job to actually pass constitutional laws. That’s where the rub is.
“They’ve got to do their job in order for the attorney general to do his job.
“I just can’t blanket say, I’ll protect ‘x’ law because I don’t know what it is,” he said.
“I don’t know that, if it’s constitutional. I don’t know anything about it. These are so fact specific,” Mann said.
“You can’t make a conjecture, and you shouldn’t make a conjecture, on what you’re going to do in a lawsuit…until you get those facts.”
