Kansas 2016 Election Results

Kansas held its general election on November 8, 2016, deciding 165 legislative seats. No chamber changed party control.

Highlights

• Republicans kept both chambers, but Democrats netted House seats, mostly around Wichita and Kansas City, cutting the Republican majority from 97-28 to 85-40. The House results marked a shift back toward the center after four years of conservative control of the agenda under Gov. Sam Brownback (R). Together, Democrats and moderate Republicans could now muster 70 to 80 House votes depending on the issue, still short of the 84 needed to override a Brownback veto.
• Democrats unseated Republican incumbents across the state. After moderates beat several conservative incumbents in the August primary, most competitive fall races pitted "Brownback Republicans" against Democrats. Tim Hodge (D) beat former Appropriations Chairman Marc Rhoades (R) by 228 votes in House District 72, and Eber Phelps (D), a former House member from Hays, took back House District 111 from Sue E. Boldra (R) by about 7 points. The other Republican incumbents who lost to Democrats:
  • Monica Murnan (D) unseated Chuck Smith (R) in House District 3.
  • Cindy Holscher (D) unseated Amanda Grosserode (R) in House District 16.
  • Brett Parker (D) unseated James Todd (R) in House District 29.
  • Debbie Deere (D) unseated John Bradford (R) in House District 40.
  • Jeff Pittman (D) unseated Tony Barton (R) in House District 41.
  • Virgil Weigel (D) unseated Lane Hemsley (R) in House District 56.
  • Liz Bishop (D) unseated Joseph Scapa (R) in House District 88.
  • Steven G. Crum (D) unseated Steven Anthimides (R) in House District 98.
  • Patsy Terrell (D) unseated Jan Pauls (R), a longtime Democrat who switched parties in 2014, in House District 102.
• The new legislature made its mark the following June. Lawmakers overrode Brownback's veto 88-31 in the House and 27-13 in the Senate to repeal the income tax exemption for business income, ending the signature tax policies of his administration. Supporters said they had heard loudly from voters in 2016.
• Democrats also won two open Republican House seats, House District 18 and House District 21, while John Eplee (R) took the open House District 63 from Democrats. In the Senate, Democrats' only pickup was the open Senate District 25 in Wichita, which Lynn Rogers (D), a former school board member, won by about 17 points. Sen. Steve Fitzgerald (R) held Senate District 5 by about 500 votes over Bill Hutton (D).
• Voters added a right to hunt and fish to the state constitution and retained all four Supreme Court justices whom conservatives had targeted over rulings on the death penalty and school funding.

Legislature

• House (125 seats): 28 D, 97 R before the election, 40 D, 85 R after; control stayed with Republicans.
• Senate (40 seats): 8 D, 32 R before the election, 9 D, 31 R after; control stayed with Republicans.

Legislative races

Ballot measures