TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) 鈥� A former Kansas attorney general鈥檚 successful political comeback in Tuesday鈥檚 election kept an open U.S. House seat in Republican hands while the only Democrat in the state鈥檚 congressional delegation won reelection.
won the 2nd Congressional District seat held by retiring two-term Schmidt, who served three terms as attorney general, was coming off a narrow loss in . He defeated Democrat Nancy Boyda.
Democratic Rep. won her fourth term by defeating Republican Prasanth Reddy, a doctor and former vice president of two medical research companies. Most of the district鈥檚 voters are in suburbs that have been friendly to Davids.
In the state鈥檚 two other districts, Republican Reps. Tracey Mann and Ron Estes won reelection comfortably.
Schmidt celebrated at a barbecue restaurant in his southeastern Kansas hometown of Independence and pledged to work on inflation and border security and to fight what he called 鈥渢he nanny-state mentality鈥� of the federal government.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got to push back against this notion that people on the East Coast are going to decide here in Kansas how we use our farmground, what cookstove we use to make our supper, what kind of car we鈥檙e supposed to drive by 2035,鈥� Schmidt said in an interview with WIBW-TV.
Democrats have held the 2nd District seat previously, but not since Boyda served a single, two-year term and lost her race for reelection in 2008. LaTurner won both of his two terms by about 15 percentage points and would have likely cruised to victory again, but he announced in April that he wanted to spend more time with his young children.
After wishing Schmidt well in a statement, Boyda said: 鈥淔or the sake of our democracy I can hope that the next Congress will get serious about governing and set aside the divisive posturing that has been tearing us apart.鈥�
Schmidt and the three incumbents seeking reelection all had big fundraising advantages over their opponents. Schmidt鈥檚 total of $1.2 million would be relatively modest for a hotly contested race, but that was five times as much as the $235,000 Boyda raised 鈥� and her figure included loans of more than $105,000 to her campaign.
Schmidt is often affable in public, and he worked early in his career for two moderate Republicans, U.S. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum Baker and Gov. Bill Graves, before serving in the state Senate and being elected attorney general in 2010. That鈥檚 created lingering distrust among hard-right Republicans.
But Schimdt easily won a five-person primary this year 鈥� partly because former President Donald Trump declared in a social media post that Schmidt was 鈥淎n America First Patriot鈥� and, 鈥淗E WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!鈥�
In the 3rd District, Davids gained national attention when she unseated a Republican incumbent in 2018 as . Republicans try to portray her as among the most liberal members of Congress. Her vocal support of abortion rights has helped her in her district, and she鈥檚 positioned herself as a and pragmatic centrist.
鈥淚 want to make sure that we鈥檙e doing what we can to start getting past all this partisan bickering, the partisanship, the awful rhetoric,鈥� she told supporters during an election night watch party in the Kansas City area.
The key to a 3rd District victory is the state鈥檚 most populous county. Trump鈥檚 support has waned there since his victory in the 2016 presidential race, hurting Republicans, while Davids鈥� margins of victory have grown over time.
Davids raised $5.7 million for her reelection campaign 鈥� more than three times the $1.8 million the challenger raised while putting $87,000 of his personal funds into his campaign.
Reddy congratulated Davids in a statement but added, "The values we campaigned on remain, and this is not the end of our fight.鈥�
Mann raised $1.4 million and Estes, almost $2.1 million, and neither of their Democratic challengers reached $100,000.
The 1st District that Mann represents includes the liberal northeastern Kansas enclave of Lawrence, home to the main University of Kansas campus. However, Lawrence鈥檚 influence can鈥檛 match the GOP鈥檚 strength in the rest of the district, the state鈥檚 western third and much of central Kansas. Mann is who鈥檚 had no trouble winning his two previous terms.
His Democratic opponent was Paul Buskirk, an academic counselor and adviser for student athletes at the University of Kansas.
The 4th District of south-central Kansas is centered on Estes鈥� hometown of Wichita, and he鈥檚 a former two-term state treasurer. He鈥檚 held the seat since in 2017 to replace Mike Pompeo, who was appointed by Trump to be CIA director and later U.S. secretary of state.
His Democratic opponent was Esau Freeman, a painter and union leader who is best known for advocating the legalization of marijuana.
John Hanna, The Associated Press
