Top 5 Kansas news stories
November 3 2026
Kansas Advance Voting Tops 470,000 Before Pivotal Races
Marshall Rallies With USDA Chief in El Dorado, Visits Inman
Three Kansas Cities Vote on Data Center Bans
Holscher, Masterson Close Governor’s Race With Lenexa Rallies
Opinion: Both Sides Read the Same Bible in Kansas’ Senate Race
Kansas Advance Voting Tops 470,000 Before Pivotal Races
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas reported 470,170 advance ballots in the secretary of state’s Monday update; comparing the Friday before each election, advance voting was up 33% from 2022. Registered Republicans led Democrats by about 11,500 advance voters, a 2.4-percentage-point advantage, though party registration does not reveal how those ballots were marked. Johnson County reported about 189,000 advance ballots, roughly 40% of registered voters and a record for a nonpresidential year, ahead of voting at 141 polling places Tuesday; Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew reported 17,677 in-person advance voters, up from about 11,000 in 2022. Polls generally run from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., with some counties extending those hours and voters in line at closing allowed to vote, while a court injunction preserves counting of mail ballots postmarked by Tuesday and received by the last postal delivery Friday, Nov. 6. Republican Sen. Roger Marshall faces Democratic pastor Adam Hamilton in a competitive Senate race, while Republican Senate President Ty Masterson and Democratic state Sen. Cindy Holscher seek to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, putting both U.S. Senate control and the possibility of unified Republican state government at stake. Voters also choose an attorney general, secretary of state, all four U.S. House members and all 125 Kansas House members and decide constitutional and local questions; advance ballots typically appear among the first election-night returns, but results cannot be released before polls close and remain unofficial until canvassing.
Greg Loving
Kansas SOS · On Point Politics · KCTV5 · Lawrence Journal-World · KCUR · AP
Marshall Rallies With USDA Chief in El Dorado, Visits Inman
EL DORADO, Kan. — Republican Sen. Roger Marshall appeared with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins at the El Dorado Livestock Auction on Monday, Nov. 2, meeting ranchers and beef industry representatives on the eve of his reelection contest against Democrat Adam Hamilton. Rollins announced nearly $4 million for 10 Kansas meat processors, including $2 million for Plainview Beef Company in Peabody and $116,280 for Walnut Valley Packing in El Dorado, to expand independent processing capacity and give ranchers more options closer to home. The grants are part of a $57.4 million round of 147 tentative awards across 40 states announced Oct. 26 through USDA’s Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program; the agency said the congressional notification period is complete and it is beginning to obligate funds. Earlier that morning, Marshall held a campaign event at Inman Harvest Cafe, where owners Nick and Katy Reinecker hosted a crowd that filled the cafe’s front section, Citizen Journal reported. Marshall urged Christians to vote, following President Donald Trump’s Sunday appearance in Salina.
Sarah Newberry
USDA · Citizen Journal · KWCH · KSN
Three Kansas Cities Vote on Data Center Bans
EL DORADO, Kan. — Voters in El Dorado, Emporia and Ottawa decide citizen-initiated data center bans Tuesday, Nov. 3, testing whether residents can use petitions to block projects amid competing claims about jobs, tax revenue and demands on power, water and land. El Dorado’s proposal would prohibit data centers drawing more than 10 megawatts at peak or more than 100,000 gallons of water daily for 10 years and restrict certain large battery storage systems over fire concerns. Emporia’s proposed data center ordinance uses the same thresholds without an expiration date, while Ottawa’s would prohibit facilities using more than 25 megawatts. All three measures reached the ballot after petition drives and legal challenges. Judges ordered the Emporia and Ottawa questions onto the ballot, but Emporia’s ordinance remains stayed pending a ruling on its validity even if voters approve it, and Ottawa’s also requires a further court decision. Emporia’s campaign opposes the proposed roughly 1,000-acre Flint Hills Digital Campus, part of a statewide development push following a 2025 sales-tax exemption. Newsweek, citing Ballotpedia, reported about 35 data center measures on ballots nationally this fall.
KWCH · WIBW · KSHB · Emporia · El Dorado · HPPR · Newsweek
Holscher, Masterson Close Governor’s Race With Lenexa Rallies
LENEXA, Kan. — Democrat Cindy Holscher and Republican Ty Masterson made their closing appeals for Kansas governor at competing get-out-the-vote rallies in Lenexa, seeking to succeed Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly after her eight years in office. Holscher, a state senator from Overland Park, rallied Monday afternoon, Nov. 2, in a renovated timber barn alongside Kelly, former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. She challenged Masterson’s legislative record, telling supporters, “Ty Masterson’s had six years to deliver with a supermajority, but it hasn’t happened.” Masterson, the Senate president from Andover endorsed by President Donald Trump, closed his statewide Barnstorm Tour at The Mint with former Kansas City Royals general manager Dayton Moore, arguing Democrats had abandoned moderate voters and urging supporters to work until polls close. Kelly’s term limit leaves the seat open while Republicans hold veto-proof supermajorities in both legislative chambers, putting the continuation of divided government or unified Republican control at stake. The Cook Political Report rates the race a toss-up, and polls generally close at 7 p.m. local time Tuesday, with election results released only after voting ends.
Kansas Reflector · KCTV5 · KSHB · FOX4
Opinion: Both Sides Read the Same Bible in Kansas’ Senate Race
MCPHERSON, Kan. — Citizen Journal Editor-in-Chief Greg Loving examines religious appeals in the Roger Marshall-Adam Hamilton Senate race in an opinion column urging voters to debate policy without judging their neighbors’ faith. He recounts the “God Made Trump” recording played at Sunday’s Salina rally and Marshall’s description of supporters comparing the president to the biblical King David. Hamilton, a longtime United Methodist pastor, has described fasting and praying before deciding to run. Loving traces the campaign recording’s style to Paul Harvey’s 1978 “So God Made a Farmer” speech and interprets the David comparison as an argument that God can work through flawed leaders. Drawing on Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address, Loving argues that opposing voters can share sincere beliefs and cautions against treating political disagreements as divine judgments.
Greg Loving
Sources
- Kansas SOS — Advance Voting Data / Kansas SOS — Mail Ballot Rules / Kansas SOS — 2022 Advance Voting Update / On Point Politics — Party Registration / KCTV5 / Lawrence Journal-World / KCUR / AP
- USDA — Kansas Awards / USDA — National Awards / KWCH / KSN / Citizen Journal / USDA — Event Advisory
- KWCH / Emporia — Ordinance and Court Conditions / El Dorado / KWCH — El Dorado Petition / WIBW / KSHB / HPPR / Newsweek
- Kansas Reflector / KCTV5 / KSHB / FOX4
- Citizen Journal — Greg Loving Opinion
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