Election 2022

The campaign for Kansas governor takes form of a stage debate with Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and Republican gubernatorial nominee Derek Schmidt, but also features more than 40 commercials designed to disparage. (Jill Hummels for the Kansas Reflector)

Governor candidates Schmidt, Kelly clash on Kansas State Fair stage in campaign’s first debate

BY: - September 10, 2022

Republican Derek Schmidt and Democrat Laura Kelly light up Kansas State Fair stage in a rowdy kickoff of debates in the 2022 campaign for governor.

OPINION
Gov. Laura Kelly and Attorney General Derek Schmidt, candidates for governor in November, have offered statements affirming racial bias existed in the state's law enforcement system. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

At Kansas State Fair debate, Kelly and Schmidt explore different realities

BY: - September 10, 2022

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and her challenger, Attorney General Derek Schmidt, showed up for two different debates Saturday morning at the Kansas State Fair. The 90-minute exchange was an opportunity for Kelly to lean into her four-year record as governor. A longtime state legislator, she dug into the opportunity to explain her accomplishments and deep […]

Johnson County Sheriff Calvin Hayden, shown here during a June speech about election fraud, said he was prepared to deploy deputies to thwart zealous IRS agents and was struggling to find probable cause to issue warrants that might help him build an election fraud case in the county. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

Johnson County sheriff threatens to deploy ‘army’ of deputies against IRS agents

BY: - September 9, 2022

Johnson County sheriff ready to deploy deputies to rebuff IRS agents, struggling to find probable cause to warrant investigation of 2020 voter fraud.

Republican and Democratic candidates for governor, attorney general, secretary of state and state treasurer, sharing a stage in September, will be decided Tuesday by Kansas voters. the ballot also includes congressional races, judicial retention decisions and constitutional amendments. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

Former Kansas Gov. Bill Graves crosses party line — again — to endorse Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly

BY: - September 8, 2022

Former Kansas Gov. Bill Graves, a Republican, crosses aisle to endorse for reelection Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly rather than GOP nominee Derek Schmidt.

Kansas attorney general candidate Kris Kobach, who served as general counsel to We Build the Wall, deflected responsibility for alleged fraud against the organization and defended Stephen Bannon, who faced indictment for financial misconduct at the crowd-sourced organization created to build wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

Kobach defends Bannon, deflects personal responsibility over alleged border wall corruption

BY: - September 8, 2022

Kansas attorney general candidate Kris Kobach defends Stephen Bannon, who is accused of diverting money from the We Build the Wall organization.

Gov. Laura Kelly announces the creation of the Office of Registered Apprenticeship during a news conference Tuesday at Washburn Tech in Topeka.(Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

‘The key is always people’: Kansas governor creates new office for job training

BY: - September 6, 2022

TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly created the Office of Registered Apprenticeship Tuesday, emphasizing statewide economic growth under her administration and new employment opportunities.  Standing in a Washburn Tech auto garage, the Democratic governor said the new office would expand training opportunities for Kansans, especially for nontraditional workforce members, including women, formerly incarcerated people, people of […]

Republican gubernatorial candidate Derek Schmidt recommended the Legislature adopt an exemption from the state's 6.5% sales tax for purchases of diapers and feminine hygiene products. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

Schmidt seeks passage of state sales tax exemption for diapers, feminine hygiene products

BY: - September 6, 2022

Attorney General Derek Schmidt, GOP candidate for governor, seeks an exemption from the state's 6.5% sales tax for diapers and feminine hygiene products.

Chris Mann, Democratic nominee for attorney general against GOP nominee Kris Kobach, examines his career, motivation for seeking public office and plans to reshape the attorney general's office. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

Kansas attorney general candidate emerges from tragedy with refined sense of public service

BY: - September 6, 2022

Democratic attorney general candidate Chris Mann says the state's top law enforcement office office shouldn't be undermined by raw politics.

Most Republican candidates for statewide and federal office skipped The Des Moines Register Political Soapbox at this year’s Iowa State Fair. (Jared Strong/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Candidates, mostly Republican, skip debates, bar press during midterm campaigns

BY: - September 4, 2022

WASHINGTON — With two months left of the 2022 campaign season, a majority of Republican candidates are continuing to skirt away from not only talking to local and national media outlets about their policy issues, but their own constituents, leaving voters with little information on their policy positions. “If we are to hold our elected […]

Hiawatha Sen. Dennis Pyle, left, an independent candidate for governor, said Republican nominee Derek Schmidt was insufficiently eager for passage of a state law forbidding transgender individuals designated as male at birth from taking part in female sports programs. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

Pyle impatient with Schmidt’s 100-day deadline for transgender sports ban in Kansas

BY: - September 2, 2022

Independent gubernatorial candidate Dennis Pyle says 100 days far too long to wait for Legislature to ban transgender individuals from female sports teams.

OPINION
Pages from the government’s released version of the F.B.I. search warrant affidavit for former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on August 27, 2022 in California are arrayed together. The affidavit was redacted for the protection of witnesses and law enforcement and to ensure the ‘integrity of the ongoing investigation’. (Illustration by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The best we can expect from Kansas Republicans: ignoring a doomed Trump

BY: - September 2, 2022

Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Eric Thomas directs the Kansas Scholastic Press Association and teaches visual journalism and photojournalism at the University of Kansas. It will be a good day when most of the […]

Republican gubernatorial candidate Derek Schmidt joined former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gains in Overland Park to push for approval by the Kansas Legislature of a state law requiring public educational institutions to allow participation in sports programs based on the biological sex of the athlete at birth. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

Schmidt, college swimmer embrace restrictions on participation in sports by transgender athletes

BY: - September 1, 2022

Kansas GOP gubernatorial candidate, former University of Kentucky swimmer slam Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of transgender sports bills.