Kris Kobach

Kris Kobach
Kobach in 2021
45th Attorney General of Kansas
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 9, 2023
GovernorLaura Kelly
Preceded byDerek Schmidt
31st Secretary of State of Kansas
In office
January 10, 2011 – January 14, 2019
GovernorSam Brownback
Jeff Colyer
Preceded byChris Biggs
Succeeded byScott Schwab
64th Chair of the Kansas Republican Party
In office
January 28, 2007 – January 31, 2009
Preceded byTim Shallenburger
Succeeded byAmanda Adkins
Personal details
Born
Kris William Kobach

(1966-03-26) March 26, 1966 (age 58)
Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Heather Mannschreck
​
​
(m. 2001)​
Children5
EducationHarvard University (AB)
Brasenose College, Oxford (MPhil, DPhil)
Yale University (JD)
Signature
WebsiteCampaign website

Kris William Kobach (/ˈkoʊbɑːk/ KOH-bahk; born March 26, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the attorney general of Kansas since 2023. He previously served as the 31st secretary of state of Kansas from 2011 to 2019.

A former chairman of the Kansas Republican Party, Kobach rose to national prominence over his support for anti-immigration advocacy,[1][2][3][4] including his involvement in implementing high-profile anti-undocumented immigration ordinances in various American cities.[5]

Kobach began his political career as a member of the City Council of Overland Park, Kansas. He was later the 2004 Republican nominee in Kansas's 3rd congressional district, losing to Democratic incumbent Dennis Moore.[6] He was elected Secretary of State of Kansas in 2010, winning nearly 60% of the total vote.[7] As Secretary of State, Kobach implemented some of the strictest voter identification laws in the history of the United States, and fought to remove nearly 20,000 registered voters from the state's voter rolls,[8] frequently spreading false claims of widespread election fraud in the U.S.[9][10][11][12][13][14]

Kobach announced in June 2017 that he would run in the 2018 primary for Governor of Kansas against then-Lieutenant Governor Jeff Colyer. Colyer became governor in January 2018 following the resignation of Sam Brownback, but was narrowly defeated by Kobach in the Republican primary by less than 500 votes,[15][16][17][18] Democrat Laura Kelly defeated Kobach in the November general election.[19] In July 2019, Kobach launched his campaign for the open U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator Pat Roberts.[20] He was defeated in the Republican primary by 14 percentage points by U.S. Representative Roger Marshall.[21] He became the Republican nominee for Kansas Attorney General in 2022 and was narrowly elected to the post on November 8, 2022.[22][23]

  1. ^ Sonmez, Felicia. "Trump endorses anti-immigration hard-liner Kris Kobach in Kansas GOP primary". Washington Post.
  2. ^ Bergengruen, Vera; Lowry, Bryan; Kumar, Anita (November 15, 2016). "Kansas' Kris Kobach, immigration hardliner, could be Trump's attorney general". The McClatchy Company. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
  3. ^ "Trump's immigration whisperer". Politico. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  4. ^ "What's the Matter with Kansas' Kris Kobach?". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  5. ^ Huseman, Jessica; Paterson, Blake; Lowry, Bryan; Woodall, Hunter (August 1, 2018). "Kris Kobach's Lucrative Trail of Courtroom Defeats — ProPublica". ProPublica. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  6. ^ "Kansas Secretary of State Page 1: 2004 General Election Official Vote Totals" (PDF). Kansas Secretary of State. Retrieved November 18, 2016.
  7. ^ "Kansas Secretary of State".
  8. ^ Wines, Michael (October 25, 2016). "As ID Laws Fall, Voters See New Barriers Rise". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  9. ^ "Stephen Miller's bushels of Pinocchios for false voter-fraud claims". The Washington Post. February 12, 2017. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference KCStar noncitizens tip was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference KC Star voted illegally was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ "The conservative gladiator from Kansas behind restrictive voting laws". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  13. ^ "Republican Voter Fraud". The New York Times. February 22, 2019. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  14. ^ Huseman, Jessica (June 19, 2018). "How the Case for Voter Fraud Was Tested — and Utterly Failed". ProPublica. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference 343votes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Lee, Kurtis (August 15, 2018). "Incumbent Jeff Colyer concedes GOP primary for Kansas governor to Kris Kobach, a staunch Trump ally". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  17. ^ "Kris Kobach wins Kansas GOP governor nomination after incumbent Colyer concedes". CNN. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  18. ^ Dedaj, Paulina (August 14, 2018). "Jeff Colyer concedes to Trump-backed Kris Kobach in Kansas GOP governor's race one week after vote". Fox News. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  19. ^ "Democrat Laura Kelly wins in Kansas, defeating Kris Kobach". November 7, 2018.
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference kickoff was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ Moore, Elena (August 4, 2020). "Conservative Kris Kobach Loses Kansas GOP Senate Primary". NPR. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  22. ^ "Republican Kris Kobach completes comeback with win in Kansas AG race, vowing to fight Biden," November 09, 2022, Wichita Eagle retrieved November 17, 2022
  23. ^ Associated Press: "GOP’s Kobach wins Kansas AG’s race, revives political career: Republican Kris Kobach has won the Kansas attorney general’s race after two big losses tied to his national reputation as an immigration and election law provocateur," 2022-11-09, KWCH-TV Eyewitness News, retrieved November 11, 2022