Ingram's November 2022

Still Tilted to the Right | The highest-profile races in the bistate area—U.S. Senate in Missouri and governor in Kansas— produced victories for the Republican and Democratic candidates, but almost everything else in the two-state area led to a clean sweep for the GOP. The Democrats’ only consolation is that they narrowed the margins for supermajorities in statehouses in Jefferson City and Topeka. In Kansas, the counties Kelly carried are in blue; in Missouri, the counties that backed Eric Schmitt for U.S. Senate are in red.

attained it by holding on in Nevada— again, just barely. That assures at least a 51-49 majority if incumbent Raphael Warnock can stave off Rep ublican Herschel Walker in a Dec. 6 runoff for the final contested Senate seat in Georgia. Even if he can’t, Democrats will again rely on Kamala Harris’ vice pres idential authority to break any Senate votes that end in a 50-50 tie. A Senate contest that Democrats had hoped would be competitive was anything but in Missouri, where Eric Schmitt rolled to a 13-point margin over Trudy Busch Valentine. Across the state line, there never was much hope for a Democratic pickup, as incumbent Jerry Moran throttled former Unified Government CEO Mark Holland, 60 percent to 37 percent. At the congressional level, Missouri retained its 6-2 House split between Republicans and Democrats, with Emanuel Cleaver and Cori Bush carrying their respective Kansas City- and St. Louis-area districts for the Democrats. Kansas likewise retained the status quo with a 3-1 Republican majority,

wherin Sharice Davids earned re election for the minority party. Closer to the Kansas City region, pol- itical pundits will point to the re-elec tion of Gov. Laura Kelly—coming just months after voters rejected legislative authority to tighten abortion laws—as further evidence of the “purpling” of a deep-red Kansas. How, then, would that claim square with the election of Republican firebrand Kris Kobach as attorney general? Or with voting across the Legislature’s districts that once again left the Republicans with poten- tial veto-proof supermajorities in both the 125-seat House and the 40-seat Senate? Kelly’s claims to be The Jobs Gov- ernor will be burnished in a second term only with policies that earn the blessings of Republicans. But if she can top her first-term achievements that concluded with the $4 billion deal to bring Panasonic’s battery plant to Kansas, she’ll leave office in 2027 with a powerful claim to being just that—a jobs generator. Until then, she and running mate David Toland (who serves as both secretary of commerce and her lieut

enant governor) are on a political is land: They are the only Democrats holding statewide office. As Kobach was claiming the AG’s mantle, Steve Johnson ousted Democratic incumbent Lynn Rogers as treasurer, and Scott Schwab earned a second term as sec retary of state. In Missouri, Republicans enjoyed a historic showing, sweeping every statewide contest and retaining super majorities in both the House and Senate of the General Assembly, though by the barest of margins in the Senate. Des pite that imbalance, Democrats came within three seats of breaking the GOP’s veto-proof House majority, incre- asing their numbers from 47 seats to 52. With only half the Senate facing voters this cycle, Democrats flipped one district, coming within a single seat of denying the GOP a Senate supermajority. They’ll start the 2023 General Assembly session hold- ing 11 seats to the Republicans’ 23. Nicole Galloway, termed out as state auditor, had been the only Democrat in statewide elected office; treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick will switch roles to claim that office for the GOP.

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I n g r a m ’ s

Kansas City’s Business Media

November 2022