Kansas midterm election coverage—live online from the Paul Davis watch party

 The Kansas midterm election polls have been closed for about two hours, and 53 of 97 county precincts are reporting results.

The race for governor has stayed within 10,000 votes statewide. However, Douglas County is clearly in favor of the Democratic candidate. The crowd is buzzing with excitement at the Paul Davis campaign party in Lawrence.

As of 9 p.m., Davis held 49 percent of state votes and 75 percent of Douglas county votes. Brownback is close behind in the state race with 47 percent but trailing considerably locally with only 23 percent of votes.

LHS grad Davis has yet to make a formal appearance at the watch party, but his supporters are gathered in downtown Lawrence anxiously waiting for results.

“I think he has definitely has pulled ahead,” district wellness coordinator Jennifer Osborn said. “I couldn’t even look at the screen, I just keep listening. I am, quite frankly, a nervous wreck. Because you never know what is going to happen.”

Governor race ties up, Davis supporters stay optimistic

Douglas County votes are almost entirely in with no significant change. However, state-wide results show Gov. Sam Brownback has pulled ahead.

The governor race in tied at 48 percent with 1811 of 3479 state precincts reporting.Davis supporters seem to have moved closer to the stage monitors, which are constantly updated with vote fluctuation, and react with each minor change.

Although the democrat has lost his lead, campaign officials remain optimistic. Assistant floor manager Christopher Miller says he feels good about where they currently are.

With nearly all Douglas County votes tabulated, Davis holds a clear landslide in Douglas County with a 72 percent majority. Campaign officials attribute local  success to the hometown influence the candidate has. Davis graduated from Lawrence High and lives in Lawrence.

“I think because he is a local guy it has more meaning to the community as a whole,” assistant field director Christopher Miller said. “He was born here and raised here. And because people are familiar with him, I think it’s more influential.” 

Davis falls to Brownback, Republicans sweep other offices

At about 11 p.m., Democrat Paul Davis took the floor at his watch party and gave his concession speech. Just moments before, he had called Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, to congratulate him on his second term.

Davis, an LHS graduate, fell short of the conservative incumbent, trailing by 3 percentage points. Despite the loss, Davis spoke in front of the crowd of cheering supporters.

“This campaign was never really about us,” Davis said in his speech. “It was always about Kansas. It was about our families, it was about our futures, our kids.

“It was about our young people, our high school graduates that can’t access higher education because of the years of skyrocketing tuition,” he continued. “It was about workers that wanted nothing more than waking up every morning, feeding your family and having that sense of accomplishment. It was about Kansas seniors, not getting the quality healthcare they were promised.”

Davis, although disappointed, concluded that the state will go on and that Kansans had their work cut out for them despite the disagreements the election highlighted.

“We have very real challenges to face as a state and the only way we can overcome these challenges is together,” he said.

Davis’ loss came on a night when Republicans swept major offices. Among them were Pat Roberts winning with 53 percent for U.S. Senate; Lynn Jenkins with 57 percent for Congress; and Kris Kobach with 59 percent for Kansas Secretary of State.

Pre-election day polls had projected some of those races as much closer than the final tally bore out, drawing national attention. In the end, liberal and moderate optimism could not overcome the conservative political climate.