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2016 Kansas House Elections
Primary	August 2, 2016
General	November 8, 2016

All 125 seats in the Kansas House of Representatives were up for election in 2016. Democrats gained 12 seats in the November 2016 general election.

Introduction[edit]

Elections for the Kansas House of Representatives were held in 2016. The primary election was held on August 2, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was June 1, 2016.

Majority control[edit]

See also: Partisan composition of state houses

Heading into the election, the Republican Party held the majority in the Kansas House of Representatives:

Incumbents retiring[edit]

Twenty-six incumbents did not run for re-election in 2016. Those incumbents were:

Name	Party	Current Office
Marty Read	Republican	House District 4
Virgil Peck, Jr.	Republican	House District 12
John Rubin	Republican	House District 18
Barbara Bollier	Republican	House District 21
Ray Merrick	Republican	House District 27
Ramon Gonzalez	Republican	House District 47
Dick Jones	Republican	House District 52
Annie Tietze	Democratic	House District 53
Don Hill	Republican	House District 60
Becky Hutchins	Republican	House District 61
Jerry Henry	Democratic	House District 63
Tom Moxley	Republican	House District 68
Peggy Mast	Republican	House District 76
Mark Kahrs	Republican	House District 87
Roderick A. Houston	Democratic	House District 89
Gene Suellentrop	Republican	House District 91
Mario Goico	Republican	House District 94
Dennis Hedke	Republican	House District 99
Mark E. Hutton	Republican	House District 105
Sharon Schwartz	Republican	House District 106
John Edmonds	Republican	House District 112
Ronald Ryckman	Republican	House District 115
John L. Ewy	Republican	House District 117
Bud Estes	Republican	House District 119
Rick Billinger	Republican	House District 120
John Doll	Republican	House District 123

2016 election competitiveness[edit]

Kansas saw improvement in electoral competitiveness.

Ballotpedia conducts a yearly study of electoral competitiveness in state legislative elections. Details on how well Kansas performed in the study are provided in the image below. Click here for the full 2016 Competitiveness Analysis »

• In the Kansas State Senate, there were eight Democratic incumbents and 32 Republican incumbents. No incumbents faced primary opposition in the Democratic Party. There were 11 primary challenges in the Republican primary.

• In the House, there were 28 Democratic incumbents and 97 Republican incumbents. Twenty-four state representatives faced primary opposition in the Democratic Party. There were 28 primary challenges in the Republican primary.

• Overall, 18.6 percent of Democratic incumbents and 21.4 percent of GOP incumbents faced primary opposition in all of the state legislatures with elections in 2016.

• The cumulative figure for how many state legislative candidates faced no major party opposition in November in these states was 41.8 percent. This compares to 32.7 percent in 2010, 38.3 percent in 2012, and 43.0 percent in 2014.

• More details on electoral competitiveness in Kansas can be found below.

Races we watched[edit]

Ballotpedia identified four notable Kansas state legislative races in 2016, all four of which were state House contests.

Click here to read more about Ballotpedia's coverage of notable Kansas races »

General election contests[edit]

State House District 3

A Democratic candidate challenged the Republican incumbent in a Democratic-leaning district.

☐ Chuck Smith (Inc.)      ☑ Monica Murnan

State House District 56

The Republican incumbent faced a primary challenger en route to a general election rematch.

☐ Lane Hemsley (Inc.)      ☑ Virgil Weigel

State House District 88

A Democratic candidate challenged the Republican incumbent in a closely divided district.

☐ Joseph Scapa (Inc.)      ☑ Elizabeth Bishop

State House District 98

A Democratic candidate competed to challenge the GOP incumbent to a rematch.

☐ Steven Anthimides (Inc.)      ☑ Steven Crum

Primary election[edit]

In the primary elections held on August 2, 2016, six incumbents were defeated in the state Senate, while nine incumbents were defeated in the state House. Outside of the one incumbent Democrat who was defeated in the House, the other 14 incumbents who were ousted were conservative Republicans displaced by moderate Republicans running against the conservative policies of Gov. Sam Brownback (R). Before the 2016 primary, moderate Republicans had been losing ground in the state legislature, shifting from a more moderate Republican-controlled state legislature to a more conservative one after the 2012 elections. In 2012, 18 Republican incumbents were unseated.

Before the primary, there were 25 conservative incumbents in the Senate that would follow the governor's agenda. Following the primary results, the number dropped to 18 conservative members. The House saw a similar number of conservative seats change to moderate.^[2]

House incumbents defeated[edit]

• Patty Markley defeated incumbent Craig McPherson in the District 8 Republican primary by a 58-42 margin.
• Tom Cox defeated incumbent Brett Hildabrand in the District 17 Republican primary by a 62-38 margin.
• Jan Kessinger defeated incumbent Rob Bruchman in the District 20 Republican primary by a 54-46 margin.
• Joy Koesten defeated incumbent Jerry Lunn in the District 28 Republican primary by a 54-46 margin.
• Shelee Brim defeated incumbent Charles Macheers in the District 39 Republican primary by a 43-34 margin.
• Jim Karleskint defeated incumbent Connie O'Brien in the District 42 Republican primary by a 52-48 margin.
• Vic Miller defeated incumbent Ben Scott in the District 58 Democratic primary by a 73-22 margin.
• Mary Martha Good defeated incumbent Will Carpenter in the District 75 Republican primary by a 51-49 margin.
• Anita Judd-Jenkins defeated incumbent Kasha Kelley in the District 80 Republican primary by a 53-47 margin.

Heading into the 2016 general election, Kansas was one of 23 Republican trifecta states. Read more about party control in Kansas »

List of candidates[edit]

General election[edit]

2016 Kansas House general election candidates
District	Democrat	Republican	Other
1	No candidate	Michael Houser (I) a
2	Adam Lusker (I) a	No candidate
3	Monica Murnan: 4,351 a	Chuck Smith: 3,939 (I)
4	No candidate	Trevor Jacobs a
5	Doug Walker: 3,748	Kevin Jones : 5,423 (I) a
6	Christy Levings: 4,490	Jene Vickrey: 6,397 (I) a
7	No candidate	Richard Proehl (I) a
8	Ben Chociej: 3,550	Patty Markley: 9,493 a
9	No candidate	Kent Thompson: 6,321 (I) a	Patrick McMurray: 2,011 (L)
10	John Wilson (I) a	No candidate
11	No candidate	Jim Kelly (I) a
12	Jean Schodorf: 2,661	Doug Blex: 6,182 a
13	No candidate	Larry Paul Hibbard (I) a
14	Merlin Ring: 5,292	Keith Esau: 7,291 (I) a
15	R. Paul McCorkle: 3,559	Erin Davis: 5,014 (I) a
16	Cindy Holscher: 6,847 a	Amanda Grosserode: 5,443 (I)
17	Helen Stoll: 5,333	Tom Cox: 6,972 a
18	Cindy Neighbor: 6,230 a	Eric Jenkins: 5,668
19	Elizabeth Meitl: 4,639	Stephanie Clayton: 8,325 (I) a	John Taube: 806 (L)
20	Christopher McQueeny: 4,944	Jan Kessinger: 9,153 a
21	Jerry Stogsdill: 7,408 a	Dorothy Hughes: 6,141
22	Nancy Lusk (I) a	No candidate
23	Amber Versola: 4,045	Linda Gallagher: 4,843 (I) a
24	Jarrod Ousley: 6,228 (I) a	Rob Johnson: 4,095
25	Matt McCann: 5,495	Melissa Rooker: 7,924 (I) a
26	Cheron Tiffany: 3,933	Larry Campbell: 8,059 (I) a
27	Larry Miller: 4,294	Sean Tarwater Sr.: 9,712 a
28	No candidate	Joy Koesten a
29	Brett Parker: 6,249 a	James Todd: 5,617 (I)
30	Darla Graham: 5,232	Randy Powell: 5,751 (I) a
31	Louis Ruiz (I) a	No candidate
32	Pam Curtis (I) a	No candidate
33	Tom Burroughs (I) a	No candidate
34	Valdenia Winn (I) a	No candidate
35	Broderick Henderson (I) a	No candidate
36	Kathy Wolfe Moore: 7,481 (I) a	Kevin Braun: 3,623
37	Stan Frownfelter (I) a	No candidate
38	Mike Fonkert: 4,198	Willie Dove: 6,995 (I) a	F. Caleb Christopher: 813 (L)
39	Angeliina Lawson: 4,320	Shelee Brim: 7,996 a
40	Debbie Deere: 4,421 a	John Bradford: 4,042 (I)
41	Jeff Pittman: 3,433 a	Tony Barton: 2,809 (I)
42	Kara Reed: 4,163	Jim Karleskint: 5,715 a
43	No candidate	Bill Sutton (I) a
44	Barbara Ballard: 8,849 (I) a	Michael Lindsey: 2,917
45	Terry Manies: 6,379	Thomas Sloan: 7,681 (I) a
46	Dennis "Boog" Highberger (I) a	No candidate
47	Michael Caddell: 3,169	Ronald B. Ellis: 6,904 a
48	Sandy Ackerson: 4,734	Marvin Kleeb: 6,621 (I) a
49	Darnell Hunt: 3,841	Scott Schwab: 5,390 (I) a
50	Chris Huntsman: 3,620	Fred Patton: 7,869 (I) a
51	Adrienne Olejnik: 5,354	Ron Highland: 5,783 (I) a
52	No candidate	Brenda Dietrich a
53	Jim Gartner: 5,993 a	Richard Kress: 4,437
54	Renae Hansen: 5,088	Ken Corbet: 5,904 (I) a
55	Annie Kuether (I) a	No candidate
56	Virgil Weigel: 5,141 a	Lane Hemsley: 4,758 (I)
57	John Alcala (I) a	No candidate
58	Vic Miller a	No candidate
59	No candidate	Blaine Finch (I) a
60	William Ballard: 3,069	Mark Schreiber: 5,292 a
61	Lauren Van Wagoner: 3,904	Francis Awerkamp: 6,221 a
62	No candidate	Randy Garber (I) a
63	W. Brett Neibling: 2,465	John Eplee: 6,747 a
64	No candidate	Susie Swanson (I) a
65	No candidate	Lonnie Clark (I) a
66	Sydney Carlin: 5,116 (I) a	Stanley Hoerman: 2,669
67	No candidate	Tom Phillips (I) a
68	Laura Blevins: 2,328	Dave Baker: 5,652 a
69	Gerrett Morris: 3,575	J.R. Claeys: 3,852 (I) a
70	Jo Schwartz: 3,207	John E. Barker: 6,404 (I) a
71	Jeffrey Zamrzla: 1,741	Diana Dierks: 6,627 (I) a	Joey Frazier: 1,245 (L)
72	Tim Hodge: 4,963 a	Marc Rhoades: 4,735 (I)
73	Terrance Krier: 2,976	Les Mason: 6,818 (I) a
74	No candidate	Don Schroeder a
75	No candidate	Mary Martha Good a
76	Teresa Briggs: 3,395	Eric Smith: 5,955 a
77	No candidate	Kristey Williams (I) a
78	Jason Darby: 4,372	Ron Ryckman: 6,857 (I) a
79	Ed Trimmer (I) a	No candidate
80	Michelle Schiltz: 2,146	Anita Judd-Jenkins: 4,703 a
81	James McCluer: 2,255	Blake Carpenter: 4,488 (I) a
82	Danette Harris: 3,763	Peter DeGraaf: 6,047 (I) a
83	Henry Helgerson: 3,914 (I) a	M. Lewis Ackerman: 2,570
84	Gail Finney (I) a	No candidate
85	Patty Beamer: 4,426	Chuck Weber: 7,057 (I) a
86	Jim Ward: 3,336 (I) a	Christopher Drake: 1,894	James Pruden: 470 (L)
87	Tonya Howard: 3,438	Roger Elliott: 5,530 a	Marco Giorgi: 1,070 (Ind.)
88	Elizabeth Bishop: 3,938 a	Joseph Scapa: 3,077 (I)
89	KC Ohaebosim a	No candidate
90	Lou Cicirello: 2,901	Steve Huebert: 7,414 (I) a
91	No candidate	Greg Lakin a
92	John Carmichael (I) a	No candidate
93	Deb Shepard: 3,585	John Whitmer: 5,958 (I) a
94	Susan Osborne: 4,344	Leo Delperdang: 6,577 a
95	Tom Sawyer: 3,108 (I) a	Michael Capps: 2,603
96	Brandon Whipple (I) a	No candidate
97	Stan Reeser: 2,966	Leslie Osterman: 4,472 (I) a
98	Steven Crum: 3,379 a	Steven Anthimides: 2,994 (I)
99	No candidate	Susan Humphries a
100	Glen Shafer: 3,936	Daniel Hawkins: 7,211 (I) a
101	Clifton Beck: 2,851	Joe Seiwert: 8,121 (I) a
102	Patsy Terrell: 3,132 a	Janice Pauls: 2,503 (I)
103	Ponka-We Victors (I) a	No candidate
104	Betty Taylor: 1,898	Steven R. Becker: 8,755 (I) a
105	Cammie Funston: 3,677	Brenda Landwehr: 4,431 a
106	Todd Frye: 4,548	Clay Aurand: 5,821 a
107	No candidate	Susan L. Concannon (I) a
108	Kelley Menke: 3,145	Steven C. Johnson: 6,691 (I) a
109	No candidate	Troy L. Waymaster (I) a
110	No candidate	Ken Rahjes (I) a
111	Eber Phelps: 5,308 a	Sue E. Boldra: 4,598 (I)
112	No candidate	Tory Arnberger a
113	No candidate	Greg Lewis (I) a
114	No candidate	Jack Thimesch (I) a
115	No candidate	Boyd Orr a
116	Jolene Roitman: 3,744	Kyle Hoffman: 5,549 (I) a
117	No candidate	Leonard Mastroni a
118	No candidate	Don Hineman (I) a
119	Daniel L. Love: 2,242	Bradley Ralph: 2,375 a
120	Bonita Peterson: 1,547	Adam Smith: 8,842 a
121	Jason Graff: 4,939	Mike Kiegerl: 7,415 (I) a
122	No candidate	Russ Jennings (I) a
123	No candidate	John Wheeler Jr. a
124	No candidate	J. Stephen Alford (I) a
125	No candidate	Shannon Francis (I) a
Notes	• An (I) denotes an incumbent.
	*Jim Gartner was appointed to replace retiring incumbent Annie Tietze. As a result, he appeared on the ballot as an incumbent, although he had not yet served a full term.
	• Candidate lists can change frequently throughout an election season. Ballotpedia staff update this list monthly. To suggest changes, click here to email our State Legislature Project.

Primary election[edit]

2016 Kansas House primary candidates
District	Democrat	Republican	Other
1	No candidate	Michael Houser (I) a
2	Adam Lusker (I) a	No candidate
3	Monica Murnan a	Chuck Smith (I) a
4	No candidate	Arlyn Briggs: 171 Trevor Jacobs: 1,749 a Rick James: 1,102
5	Doug Walker a	Kevin Jones (I) a
6	Christy Levings a	Jene Vickrey (I) a
7	No candidate	Richard Proehl: 1,612 (I) a Tim Wass Jr.: 882
8	Ben Chociej a	Patty Markley: 1,546 a Craig McPherson: 1,116 (I)
9	No candidate	Kent Thompson (I) a	Patrick McMurray (L) a
10	John Wilson (I) a	No candidate
11	No candidate	Jim Kelly (I) a
12	Jean Kurtis Schodorf a	Doug Blex: 1,841 a Brad Hall: 1,192
13	No candidate	Michael Countryman: 1,126 Larry Paul Hibbard: 3,536 (I) a
14	Merlin Ring a	Keith Esau: 1,375 (I) a Leesa Gabel: 1,133
15	R. Paul McCorkle a	Erin Davis: 930 (I) a Bo Dostal: 160 Kim Palcic: 395
16	Cindy Holscher a	Amanda Grosserode (I) a
17	Helen Stoll a	Tom Cox: 1,927 a Brett Hildabrand: 1,202 (I)
18	Cindy Neighbor a	Eric Jenkins a
19	Elizabeth Meitl a	Stephanie Clayton (I) a	John Taube (L) a
20	Christopher McQueeny a	Rob Bruchman: 1,883 (I) Jan Kessinger: 2,277 a
21	Jerry Stogsdill a	Dorothy Hughes: 1,660 a Neil Melton: 1,070
22	Nancy Lusk (I) a	No candidate
23	Amber Versola a	Linda Gallagher (I) a
24	Jarrod Ousley (I) a	Rob Johnson a
25	Matt McCann a	Melissa Rooker (I) a
26	Cheron Tiffany a	Larry Campbell (I) a
27	Larry Miller a	Timothy Harmon: 1,336 Sean Tarwater Sr.: 1,539 a
28	No candidate	Joy Koesten: 1,591 a Jerry Lunn: 1,344 (I)
29	Brett Parker a	James Todd (I) a
30	Darla Graham a	James Dingwerth: 812 Randy Powell: 1,207 (I) a
31	Louis Ruiz (I) a	No candidate
32	Pam Curtis (I) a	No candidate
33	Tom Burroughs (I) a	No candidate
34	Valdenia Winn (I) a	No candidate
35	Broderick Henderson: 1,259 (I) a Kimberly Lampkin: 787	No candidate
36	Kathy Wolfe Moore: 2,537 (I) a Gwendolyn Thomas: 781	Kevin Braun a
37	Stan Frownfelter (I) a	No candidate
38	Mike Fonkert a	Willie Dove: 1,431 (I) a Nathan Lucas: 293 Mitra Templin: 1,065	F. Caleb Christopher (L) a
39	Angeliina Lawson a	Shelee Brim: 963 a Owen Donohoe: 503 Charles Macheers: 765 (I)
40	Debbie Deere a	John Bradford (I) a
41	Jeff Pittman a	Tony Barton (I) a
42	Kara Reed a	Jim Karleskint: 856 a Connie O'Brien: 796(I)
43	No candidate	Donald Roberts: 759 Bill Sutton: 1,032 (I) a
44	Barbara Ballard: 1,436 (I) a Steven Davis: 301	Michael Lindsey a
45	Terry Manies a	Jeremy Ryan Pierce: 547 Thomas Sloan: 1,291 (I) a
46	Dennis "Boog" Highberger (I) a	No candidate
47	Michael Caddell a	Ronald B. Ellis a
48	Sandy Ackerson a	Marvin Kleeb (I) a
49	Darnell Hunt a	Scott Schwab (I) a
50	Chris Huntsman: 705 a Russ Hutchison: 530	Fred Patton (I) a
51	Adrienne Olejnik a	Ron Highland (I) a
52	No candidate	Brenda Dietrich: 2,749 a Mark Leenerts: 1,672
53	Jim Gartner (I)* a	Richard Kress a
54	Renae Hansen a	Ken Corbet (I) a
55	Annie Kuether (I) a	No candidate
56	Virgil Weigel a	Larry Geil: 818 Lane Hemsley: 1,757 (I) a
57	John Alcala (I) a	No candidate
58	Brett Daniel Kell: 79 Vic Miller: 1,119 a Ben Scott: 332 (I)	No candidate
59	No candidate	Blaine Finch (I) a
60	William Ballard a	Steve Pearson: 802 Mark Schreiber: 1,102 a Matthew Shepherd: 174
61	Lauren Van Wagoner a	Francis Awerkamp: 2,413 a Dan Brenner: 1,598
62	No candidate	Randy Garber (I) a
63	W. Brett Neibling a	John Eplee a
64	No candidate	Kathy Martin: 1,136 Susie Swanson: 1,554 (I) a
65	No candidate	Lonnie Clark (I) a
66	Sydney Carlin (I) a	Stanley Hoerman a
67	No candidate	Tom Phillips (I) a
68	Laura Blevins a	Nicholas Allbritton: 785 Dave Baker: 1,814 a Vance Donahue II: 297
69	Gerrett Morris a	J.R. Claeys (I) a
70	Jo Schwartz a	John E. Barker (I) a
71	Jeffrey Zamrzla a	Diana Dierks (I) a	Joey Frazier (L) a
72	Tim Hodge a	Marc Rhoades (I) a
73	Terrance Krier a	Les Mason (I) a
74	No candidate	Don Schroeder (I) a
75	No candidate	Will Carpenter: 1,713 (I) Mary Martha Good: 1,754 a
76	Kelly Atherton: 397 a Teresa Briggs: 398	Eric Smith a
77	No candidate	Kristey Williams (I) a
78	Jason Darby a	Allen Clayton: 500 Ron Ryckman: 1,334 (I) a
79	Ed Trimmer (I) a	No candidate
80	Michelle Schiltz a	Anita Judd-Jenkins: 1,300 a Kasha Kelley: 1,164 (I)
81	James McCluer a	Blake Carpenter (I) a
82	Danette Harris a	Peter DeGraaf (I) a
83	Henry Helgerson (I) a	M. Lewis Ackerman a
84	Gail Finney (I) a	No candidate
85	Patty Beamer a	Chuck Weber (I) a
86	Jim Ward (I) a	Christopher Drake a	James Pruden (L) a
87	Tonya Howard a	Jeremy Alessi: 996 Roger Elliott: 1,345 a
88	Elizabeth Bishop a	Joseph Scapa (I) a
89	KC Ohaebosim a	No candidate
90	Lou Cicirello a	Steve Huebert (I) a
91	No candidate	Greg Lakin: 1,326 a J.C. Moore: 755
92	John Carmichael (I) a	No candidate
93	Deb Shepard a	John Whitmer (I) a
94	Susan Osborne a	Scott Anderson: 1,137 Leo Delperdang: 1,277 a
95	Tom Sawyer (I) a	Michael Capps a
96	Brandon Whipple (I) a	No candidate
97	Stan Reeser a	Nick Hoheisel: 459 Leslie Osterman: 729 (I) a
98	Steven Crum: 269 a Justin Kraemer: 243	Steven Anthimides (I) a
99	No candidate	Randy Banwart: 1,218 Susan Humphries: 1,834 a
100	Glen Shafer a	James Breitenbach: 719 Daniel Hawkins: 1,782 (I) a
101	Clifton Beck a	Joe Seiwert (I) a
102	Patsy Terrell a	Janice Pauls (I) a
103	Ponka-We Victors (I) a	No candidate
104	Betty Taylor a	Steven R. Becker: 2,957 (I) a Lowell Peachey: 1,988
105	Cammie Funston a	Brenda Landwehr a
106	Todd Frye: 508 a Beth Owens: 231	Clay Aurand a
107	No candidate	Susan L. Concannon (I) a
108	Kelley Menke a	Steven C. Johnson (I) a
109	No candidate	Troy L. Waymaster (I) a
110	No candidate	Ken Rahjes (I) a
111	Eber Phelps a	Sue E. Boldra (I) a
112	No candidate	Tory Arnberger a
113	No candidate	Greg Lewis: 3,510 (I) a Jon Prescott: 1,215
114	No candidate	Herchel Crainer III: 1,716 Jack Thimesch: 2,323 (I) a
115	No candidate	Andrew Evans: 1,357 Boyd Orr: 1,827 a
116	Jolene Roitman a	Kyle Hoffman (I) a
117	No candidate	Leonard Mastroni a
118	No candidate	Don Hineman (I) a
119	Daniel L. Love a	Bradley Ralph a
120	Bonita Peterson a	John Faber: 2,910 Adam Smith: 3,281 a
121	Jason Graff a	Mike Kiegerl (I) a
122	No candidate	Russ Jennings (I) a
123	No candidate	Joel Erskin: 349 John Wheeler Jr.: 1,826 a
124	No candidate	J. Stephen Alford (I) a
125	No candidate	Shannon Francis (I) a
Notes	• An (I) denotes an incumbent.
	*Jim Gartner was appointed to replace retiring incumbent Annie Tietze. As a result, he appeared on the ballot as an incumbent, although he had not served a full term.
	• Candidate lists can change frequently throughout an election season. Ballotpedia staff update this list monthly. To suggest changes, click here to email our State Legislature Project.

Margins of victory[edit]

The average margin of victory for contested races in the Kansas House of Representatives in 2016 was lower than the national average. Out of 125 races in the Kansas House of Representatives in 2016, 75 were contested, meaning at least two candidates competed for that seat in the general election. The average margin of victory across these races was 24.3 percent. Across contested single-winner state legislative elections in 2016, the average margin of victory was 29.01 percent.^[3]

Kansas House of Representatives: 2016 Margins of Victory Less than 10 Percent
District	Winning Party	Margin of Victory
District 3	D	5.0 percent
District 18	D	4.7 percent
District 21	D	9.4 percent
District 23	R	9.0 percent
District 29	D	5.3 percent
District 30	R	4.7 percent
District 40	D	4.5 percent
District 41	D	10.0 percent
District 45	R	9.3 percent
District 51	R	3.9 percent
District 54	R	7.4 percent
District 56	D	3.9 percent
District 69	R	3.7 percent
District 72	D	2.4 percent
District 95	D	8.8 percent
District 98	D	6.0 percent
District 105	R	9.3 percent
District 111	D	7.2 percent
District 119	R	2.9 percent

Kansas House of Representatives: 2016 Margin of Victory Analysis
Party	Elections won	Average margin of victory[4]	Races with incumbent victories	Average margin of victory for incumbents[4]	Unopposed incumbents	Unopposed races	Percent unopposed
Democratic	40	14.3 percent	24	27.4 percent	17	19	47.5 percent
Republican	85	28.2 percent	54	27.4 percent	20	31	36.5 percent
Total	125	24.3 percent	78	27.4 percent	37	50	40.0 percent

Click [show] on the tables below to see the margin of victory in Kansas House of Representatives districts in 2016.

Important dates and deadlines[edit]

See also: Kansas elections, 2016

The calendar below lists important dates for political candidates in Kansas in 2016.

Competitiveness[edit]

Candidates unopposed by a major party[edit]

In 51 of the 125 seats up for election in 2016, there was only one major party candidate running for election. A total of 19 Democrats and 32 Republicans were guaranteed election barring unforeseen circumstances.

Two major party candidates faced off in the general election in 74 (59.2%) of the 125 seats up for election.

Primary challenges[edit]

Twenty-eight incumbents faced primary competition on August 2. Twenty-six incumbents did not seek re-election and another 71 incumbents advanced past the primary without opposition. The following incumbents were defeated in the primary:

• District 8: Craig McPherson (R)
• District 17: Brett Hildabrand (R)
• District 20: Rob Bruchman (R)
• District 28: Jerry Lunn (R)
• District 39: Charles Macheers (R)
• District 42: Connie O'Brien (R)
• District 58: Ben Scott (D)
• District 75: Will Carpenter (R)
• District 80: Kasha Kelley (R)

Retired incumbents[edit]

Twenty-six incumbents did not run for re-election, while 99 (79.2%) ran for re-election. A list of those incumbents, three Democrats and 23 Republicans can be found above.

Results from 2014[edit]

See also: 2014 state legislative elections analyzed using a Competitiveness Index

There were 6,057 seats in 87 chambers with elections in 2014. All three aspects of Ballotpedia's Competitiveness Index—the number of open seats, incumbents facing primary opposition, and general elections between partisan candidates—showed poor results compared to the prior election cycle. States with elections in 2014 held fewer general elections between partisan candidates. Additionally, fewer incumbents faced primary opposition and more incumbents ran for re-election than in recent years.

Since 2010, when the Competitiveness Index was established, there had not been an even-year election cycle to do statistically worse in any of the three categories. See the following chart for a breakdown of those scores between each year.

The following table details Kansas' rates for open seats, incumbents that faced primary challenges, and major party competition in the 2014 general election.

Historical context[edit]

See also: Competitiveness in State Legislative Elections: 1972-2014

Uncontested elections: In 2014, 32.8 percent of Americans lived in states with an uncontested state senate election. Similarly, 40.4 percent of Americans lived in states with uncontested house elections. Primary elections were uncontested even more frequently, with 61 percent of people living in states with no contested primaries. Uncontested elections often occur in locations that are so politically one-sided that the result of an election would be a foregone conclusion regardless of whether it was contested or not.

Open seats: In most cases, an incumbent will run for re-election, which decreases the number of open seats available. In 2014, 83 percent of the 6,057 seats up for election saw the incumbent running for re-election. The states that impose term limits on their legislatures typically see a higher percentage of open seats in a given year because a portion of incumbents in each election are forced to leave office. Overall, the number of open seats decreased from 2012 to 2014, dropping from 21.2 percent in 2012 to 17.0 percent in 2014.

Incumbent win rates: Ballotpedia's competitiveness analysis of elections between 1972 and 2014 documented the high propensity for incumbents to win re-election in state legislative elections. In fact, since 1972, the win rate for incumbents had not dropped below 90 percent—with the exception of 1974, when 88 percent of incumbents were re-elected to their seats. Perhaps most importantly, the win rate for incumbents generally increased over time. In 2014, 96.5 percent of incumbents were able to retain their seats. Common convention holds that incumbents are able to leverage their office to maintain their seat. However, the high incumbent win rate may actually be a result of incumbents being more likely to hold seats in districts that are considered safe for their party.

Marginal primaries: Often, competitiveness is measured by examining the rate of elections that have been won by amounts that are considered marginal (5 percent or less). During the 2014 election, 90.1 percent of primary and general election races were won by margins higher than 5 percent. Interestingly, it is usually the case that only one of the two races—primary or general—will be competitive at a time. This means that if a district's general election is competitive, typically one or more of the district's primaries were won by more than 5 percent. The reverse is also true: If a district sees a competitive primary, it is unlikely that the general election for that district will be won by less than 5 percent. Primaries often see very low voter turnout in comparison to general elections. In 2014, there were only 27 million voters for state legislative primaries, but approximately 107 million voters for the state legislative general elections.

Campaign contributions[edit]

The following chart shows how many candidates ran for State House in Kansas in past years and the cumulative amount of campaign contributions in State House races, including contributions in both primary and general election contests.^[5]

State comparison[edit]

The map below shows the average contributions to 2014 candidates for state houses. The average contributions raised by state house candidates in 2014 was $59,983. Kansas, at $21,930 per candidate, is ranked 33 of 45 for state house chambers with the highest average contributions. Hover your mouse over a state to see the average campaign contributions for that state’s house candidates in 2014.^[5][6]

Qualifications[edit]

Section 4 of Article 2 of the Kansas Constitution states: "During the time that any person is a candidate for nomination or election to the legislature and during the term of each legislator, such candidate or legislator shall be and remain a qualified elector who resides in his or her district."^[7]

See also[edit]

• Kansas House of Representatives
• Kansas State Legislature
• State legislative elections, 2016

External links[edit]

Suggest a link

• Kansas Secretary of State - Candidate list

Footnotes[edit]

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