Kansas Republican Congressman Roger Marshall is moving up to the U.S. Senate after surviving a challenge from Democrat Barbara Bollier in Tuesday’s election.
The 60-year-old two-term congressman from Great Bend will succeed Republican Pat Roberts, who is retiring after nearly 40 years in Congress. Marshall’s win also keeps intact Republicans’ winning streak in Kansas U.S. Senate races, a streak that dates back to 1938.
The Associated Press called the race for Marshall just after 10 p.m., with 52% of the vote and the majority of Kansas precincts reporting. He had a 9 percentage point margin of victory.
Marshall closely aligned himself with President Donald Trump, who won Kansas by 12 percentage points, short of his 2016 margin of 21 points.
Marshall moved to the right — closer to Trump’s positions on immigration, trade and a host of other issues — to win the Republican primary in August over a crowded field that included Kris Kobach, former Kansas secretary of state and the GOP nominee for governor in 2018.
During the general election campaign, Marshall took a page from the Trump playbook, warning there would be dire consequences should Democrats take control and implement their “extremist” agenda.
Bollier, 62, used endorsements from nearly 100 current and former GOP officeholders to counter efforts to paint her as “too liberal” for Kansas.
The state senator from a well-to-do Kansas City suburb left the Republican Party in 2018. But her record-setting fundraising and the strategic help she received from Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and national Democrats couldn’t put her over the top.
Marshall will succeed Roberts, who is the only person in U.S. history to have served as chairman of the agriculture committees in both the House and Senate. Marshall, who is on the House ag committee currently, has said he intends to land a seat on the Senate’s committee.
(Note: Counties will send their election results to the state within two weeks and the state’s Board of Canvassers must meet by Dec. 1 to certify the election.)
Early lead in Barton County
People were lined up outside the Barton County Clerk’s Office waiting to vote Monday morning. Advance voting was allowed at the courthouse until noon Monday, when it ended in accordance with state law, Barton County Clerk/Election Officer Donna Zimmerman explained.
Zimmerman said she was excited to see the interest voters showed in this election. On Monday she was anticipating a good turnout.
“People are interested this year,” she said, adding she has seen a high number of “brand new, first-time voters of all ages.”
By Tuesday morning, Zimmerman posted on Facebook, “Our office has already processed 5,966 voters for a 36.2% voter turn-out before the polls even opened this morning. I am so very thankful for this county team I get to work with. They are amazing and have worked so hard to bring you the best election!”
The first ballots counted Tuesday night were from the early, in-person voters. Of the 16,473 registered voters, these voters cast 2,439 ballots. They showed the trend the state would follow, with the Republican ticket of Trump and Pence winning by a wide margin. Republicans Roger Marshall and Tracey Mann were also handily winning their races for U.S. Senator and U.S. Representative, respectively.
The Kansas News Service also reported Republican Rep. Ron Estes retained the 4th District.
Shortly after 10 p.m. Tuesday, sources were calling Marshall the winner in the race for senate. But as late as 10:45 p.m., Barton County still had reported only the advanced ballots.
Statewide, Marshall was leading with 2,883 of 3,587 precincts counted statewide. He had 625,270 votes (53%), Bollier had 505,864 votes (43%), and Libertarian candidate Jason Buckley had 58,013 votes (5%).
Barton County and Pawnee counties were among the last Kansas counties to report their unofficial totals.
By Kansas News Service
With local reporting by Susan Thacker, Great Bend Tribune news editor
