The final flurry of filings ahead of the Kansas primaries in August didnt disappoint.
This is one of the busiest days of the year, every two-year cycle, said Secretary of State Kris Kobach, surveying the last crop of candidates that paraded in just before the noon deadline Friday.
Performance artist Vermin Supreme arrives at the Secretary of States office to get his name on the ballot for the attorney generals race. Supreme will challenge Derek Schmidt in the Republican primary.
Performance artist Vermin Supreme made his entrance dressed in tie-dye and with his signature rain boot on his head. He filled out the paperwork to challenge Attorney General Derek Schmidt in the Republican primary, listing a Rockport, Massachusetts address.
The name of another out-of-stater, Andy Maskin, who had filed to run for governor though he lives in New York City, was struck from the candidate list in May after a Republican party official objected. A state court judge later affirmed that state law presumes candidates for chief executive of Kansas will live in the state.
But the new law putting an end to teen candidacies wont be in effect for this election, so the names of three teenage duos will be on primary ballots. Gubernatorial wannabe Joseph Tutera Jr. of Mission Hills and his running mate Phillip Clemente added their names with a handshake and a photo in the secretary of states office on Wednesday.
Everyone and his wife
If it seems like everyone and his wife are running for office in Kansas, its actually kind of true.
Rep. Keith Esau of Olathe is leaving the Legislature to make a bid to succeed Kobach as secretary of state, and his wife Charlotte Esau filed to take his place in the House.
Candidate for governor and newlywed Jim Barnett, a physician and former Republican state senator, named his wife, Rosie Hansen, who worked in the Foreign Service, as his running mate Thursday. The two married in September.
The gubernatorial field has whittled down already, but theres still a dozen candidates, with Gov. Jeff Colyer and Kobach the perceived frontrunners on the Republican side, and state Sen. Laura Kelly and former Kansas Agriculture Secretary Josh Svaty on the other.
University of Kansas political scientist Patrick Miller said the gubernatorial primaries are still tricky to predict the most recent polls on the Democratic side came out before House Minority Leader Jim Ward withdrew in May.
Polls on the Republican side either have Colyer and Kobach statistically tied or slightly favor Kobach. Miller said it could also be interesting to watch how Insurance Commissioner Ken Selzer spends the substantial amount of money he raised, and whether that will help move the needle on his bid for governor.
Announced independent candidate Greg Or-man has not yet filed. With no primary, the deadline for independents isnt until Aug. 6. Miller said Orman is likely to act as a spoiler, pulling mostly Democratic votes in the general election to give Republicans a possible advantage.
Not another 2016
The list of candidates was rapidly out of date as political hopefuls filed for office on the morning before the Friday filing deadline.
State senators arent up this year, but there is a plethora of races for the House.
Democrats fielded 99 candidates, nearly as many as they did for House seats two years ago. But Miller, who has studied voting patterns across the state, says dont count on a repeat of 2016.
