Democratic Kansas Gov. Kelly to start 2nd term; Kobach is AG

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s profitable reelection marketing campaign in Republican-leaning Kansas wooed centrist voters with advertisements exhibiting her standing in the midst of a rural street. She is beginning her second time period dealing with a skeptical, GOP-led Legislature and a brand new, hard-right state lawyer basic.

Kelly and different statewide elected officers are scheduled to take their oaths of workplace in a ceremony at midday Monday that features her inaugural handle. She’s typically used her main public speeches to advertise bipartisanship.

The ceremony additionally will cap an enormous political comeback for Kris Kobach, the brand new lawyer basic. Over 20 years, he gained a nationwide status by advocating for strict immigration and election legal guidelines however turned a lightning rod for controversy. He misplaced the 2018 governor’s race to Kelly after which a GOP main for an open U.S. Senate seat in 2020.

Each Kelly’s and Kobach’s victories final 12 months had been slender, as Kansas voters despatched decidedly blended messages. Voters in August decisively rejected a proposed change to the state structure that will have allowed lawmakers to ban abortion, however Republicans maintained their supermajorities in each legislative chambers — preserving conservatives firmly in cost.

The Legislature is ready to convene at 2 p.m. Monday for Home and Senate periods of principally housekeeping and swearing in new members. Kelly is scheduled to stipulate her legislative agenda within the annual State of the State handle Wednesday night.

“I knew from the very get-go that if I wished to perform something in public life, that I used to be going to want to ascertain relationships throughout the aisle,” Kelly stated in a latest interview. “I’ll proceed to work in a bipartisan method to get issues executed.”

Kelly’s centrist credibility has rested on a number of high-profile strikes, corresponding to breaking with President Joe Biden on COVID-19 vaccine mandates in November 2021 and signing a invoice to ban “sanctuary” cities for immigrants residing within the U.S. illegally. Final month she banned using TikTok by state staff on state-issued units, following comparable motion by Congress and a slew of Republican governors corresponding to South Dakota’s Kristi Noem.

However she’s additionally clashed ceaselessly with Republican lawmakers on price range points, tax cuts and schooling and public well being coverage. She twice vetoed their proposals to ban transgender athletes from women’ and girls’s Ok-12 and school sports activities. Her proposals to broaden the state’s Medicaid protection for one more 150,000 individuals have been lifeless letters for prime Republicans.

“I’ve by no means thought she lived in the midst of the street,” state Rep. Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, stated after fellow Republicans named him the subsequent Home speaker final month, including that his chamber, “if something, strikes somewhat bit additional to the fitting.”

Kobach misplaced a congressional race in 2004 earlier than profitable the primary of two phrases as Kansas secretary of state in 2010. He was the primary distinguished Kansas elected official to endorse Donald Trump’s bid for president in 2016 and served as vice chairman of a short-lived Trump fee on voter fraud.

His unsuccessful 2018 and 2020 races crashed his political profession and left many Republicans believing that he couldn’t win a statewide race. However many GOP leaders and activists stated his 2022 marketing campaign was higher organized and extra targeted, producing much less drama or outrage.

The extra combative Kobach may return: He’s promised to file lawsuits to problem Biden administration insurance policies. He’s already recognized as potential targets an inventory of the lesser prairie hen as a threatened species and an growth of waters lined by U.S. Environmental Safety Company rules.

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Comply with John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna