Kansas Primary Draws Heavy Advance Turnout

Democrats Clash Over Kelly’s Role in Primary

Kansas Pilots Quarterly Tests in Six Districts

Cessna’s CJ3 Gen3 Takes First Flight

Justice Department Presses KCK Schools on Records

Kansas Primary Draws Heavy Advance Turnout

TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas voters head to the polls Tuesday, Aug. 4, for a primary featuring the state’s first open governor’s race since 2018, party contests for the U.S. Senate and all four U.S. House seats, and a proposed constitutional amendment allowing voters to elect Kansas Supreme Court justices directly. Secretary of State Scott Schwab, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, said turnout was running significantly higher than in a typical midterm primary and attributed much of the increase to the statewide court amendment. The Kansas Democratic Party said Democrats had cast nearly 28,000 advance ballots as of July 27, compared with about 26,000 from Republicans, though advance totals do not reliably predict results because Republicans have historically been more likely to vote on Election Day. In Sedgwick County, more than 16,000 people had voted early in person by Friday, July 31, and more than 6,900 of 14,195 mailed ballots had been returned before 109 polling sites open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. Mail ballots postmarked by Election Day will be counted if they arrive within three days after courts kept the state’s grace period in place through the primary. The vote will set November matchups for every statewide office and determine whether Kansas changes how its highest court is selected.

KSNT · Sedgwick County · WIBW · Kansas Public Radio

Democrats Clash Over Kelly’s Role in Primary

TOPEKA, Kan. — Democratic candidates for Kansas governor clashed during their final pre-primary debate Friday, July 31, over Gov. Laura Kelly’s role in the race to succeed her. State Sen. Cindy Holscher said Kelly’s office asked her, state Sen. Ethan Corson and Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes to stay out of the contest to clear a path for Lawrence attorney Chris Mann, who later entered the attorney general’s race. Corson disputed Holscher’s account, while Kelly chief of staff Will Lawrence has said a text Holscher sent the governor’s office could be viewed as “blackmail,” part of conflicting claims Kansas Reflector first reported in August 2025. Kelly, a term-limited two-term Democrat who remains popular in the Republican-leaning state, endorsed Corson in June and reaffirmed that support in July despite rivals’ objections to a sitting governor taking sides in a party primary. Overland Park Mayor Curt Skoog is also on the Democratic ballot, while Republicans are choosing among Schwab, Trump-endorsed Senate President Ty Masterson, Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt and others. Tuesday’s result will test how much influence Kelly’s political operation holds in selecting a potential successor.

Kansas Reflector · Yahoo News

Kansas Pilots Quarterly Tests in Six Districts

TOPEKA, Kan. — Federal education officials have approved Kansas to pilot quarterly assessments as a replacement for the traditional end-of-year state test, the Kansas State Department of Education announced Friday, July 31. Kansas City USD 500, Olathe USD 233, Geary County USD 475, Dodge City USD 443, Great Bend USD 428 and Humboldt USD 258 will begin using the Kansas Through-Year Curriculum-Directed Assessment in the 2026-27 school year under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act’s Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority. Students will take short tests each quarter, with results returned to teachers within 72 hours so they can adjust instruction during the school year. Kansas is one of seven states approved for the federal pilot since it began in 2018, and the state plans to run it for five years while adding districts annually. Supporters say spring test results arrive too late to help the students who took the exams, and a successful pilot could bring the quarterly model to every Kansas public school and reshape how the state measures learning and school performance.

WIBW · KSNT · KCTV5 · Little Apple Post

Cessna’s CJ3 Gen3 Takes First Flight

WICHITA, Kan. — Textron Aviation’s prototype Cessna Citation CJ3 Gen3 completed its first flight July 29, departing Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport for a trip of nearly two hours. Test pilots Steve Helmer and Dave Welbrock reached 41,000 feet and 278 knots indicated airspeed while checking cockpit software and core systems, and the company said the aircraft met initial performance expectations. The flight puts all three of Cessna’s next-generation light jets — the CJ4 Gen3, CJ3 Gen3 and M2 Gen3 — into testing as the company works toward Federal Aviation Administration certification. The CJ3 Gen3 uses Garmin G3000 avionics and includes Emergency Autoland, which can land the plane automatically if the pilot becomes incapacitated. Textron Aviation, the Cessna and Beechcraft manufacturer and one of Wichita’s largest employers, says the milestone advances the model toward certification and deliveries as new aircraft programs support Kansas aerospace design and production work into the 2030s.

Textron Aviation · AviTrader · AeroTime · GlobalAir.com

Justice Department Presses KCK Schools on Records

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools faced a Tuesday, Aug. 4, deadline to respond to a U.S. Department of Justice demand that it stop enforcing guidelines giving staff discretion over whether to disclose a student’s gender identity to parents. The department’s Civil Rights Division said in a July 21 letter that the guidelines unlawfully restrict parents’ access to education records under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. The letter gave the district 14 days to comply or face a civil lawsuit and the potential loss of nearly $70 million in federal funding, while the Justice and Education departments called for the district to revoke the guidelines, audit its policies and direct staff accordingly. Superintendent Anna Stubblefield defended the district Friday, July 31, citing an 84% graduation rate — its highest since tracking began — and saying, “I think context matters,” but the district had not publicly said whether it would change the policy. The dispute makes the district an early test of federal enforcement against local transgender-student policies and places one of Kansas education’s largest federal funding streams at risk.

KSHB · KCTV5

Sources

1. KSNT / Sedgwick County / WIBW / Kansas Public Radio
2. Kansas Reflector / Yahoo News / Kansas Reflector
3. WIBW / KSNT / KCTV5 / Little Apple Post
4. Textron Aviation / AviTrader / AeroTime / GlobalAir.com
5. KSHB / KCTV5 / KSHB

This article was written using our proprietary AI system, Cronkite. The final decision to publish this article was made by a human. For more info, read our AI policy.

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