Kobach loses Kan. Senate race, easing GOP worries

Kansas Republicans on Tuesday soundly rejected the Senate bid of Kris Kobach, a polarizing figure in state politics and a staunch ally of President Donald Trump’s, choosing instead to nominate a conservative congressman from rural Kansas who was the preferred choice of party leaders in Kansas and Washington.

Kobach was defeated in the primary by Rep. Roger Marshall, the Associated Press reported, a major relief to GOP officials who had worried Kobach would uniquely jeopardize the seat in the general election and would be a thorn in the side of party leadership if he won. Marshall will face state Sen. Barbara Bollier, a former Republican herself who switched parties, in November.

Kansas was one of several states, including Missouri, Michigan and Arizona, holding some of the last remaining primaries before November’s general election. It was a new test of the mail-in voting systems that many states are relying on during the coronavirus pandemic. The lack of immediate results in some places was yet another precursor of what is likely to unfold in November, when the reliance on absentee voting systems could delay results past Election Day.

That dynamic was evident Tuesday in New York City, where, six weeks after Primary Day, the Board of Elections delivered long-awaited victories to two Democrats: Ritchie Torres, a 32-year-old New York City councilman, who won a 12-way Democratic primary for a soon-to-be open House seat, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a longtime incumbent. The expansive use of vote-by-mail in New York was viewed by some as a test of whether the nation is ready for November.

The contests nationwide Tuesday were a microcosm of several political themes the parties are confronting, including the embrace of Republican candidates fashioned in the style of Trump, the left-wing push to unseat more centrist House Democrats, and another trial run for mail-in voting.

On the Republican side, the Kansas Senate race in particular offered another reminder that the party divisions that existed before Trump won will persist even after he leaves office. That includes the disagreement between deeply conservative activists, who are skeptical of Washington and approve of the type of white identity politics Trump has embraced, and the party’s traditional establishment — many members of which have argued that such messaging hurts the party long term.

In Missouri, Rep. William Lacy Clay, a 10-term congressman, faced a rematch against Cori Bush, in a significant test of the power of the Democratic Party’s progressive wing.

In Michigan, where Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s bid to win a second term in Congress was the most closely watched but where there was also an open House seat, more than 1.6 million voters had turned in an absentee ballot by Tuesday evening, according to election officials, a sizable portion of the total electorate.

The contests unfolded at a moment of extraordinary turmoil in the nation, capping a summer defined by a pandemic and an economic crisis, as well as a national outcry over racism and police brutality. And on both sides of the aisle, the races tested enthusiasm for voting amid a public health crisis.

In Detroit, Corlette Selman, 59, a hair stylist wearing a Black Lives Matter mask, said she felt as if she were voting for her life Tuesday.

“What’s most important for me is to get the proper people in place to take over the Senate, to maintain the House and to get us a new president, because we can’t live like this anymore,” she said.