Kansas Governor’s Race Awaits Audits, Provisional Ballots

Wichita Council Considers Town Hall on ICE Partnerships

Kansas Leaders Keep Raise, Approve Bill-Drafting System

Fuller Ends Great Bend Production After Betco Deal

Topeka Council Members Seek Public Data Center Talks

Kansas Governor’s Race Awaits Audits, Provisional Ballots

TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas’ governor’s race remained uncalled by news organizations, including The Associated Press, Wednesday, Nov. 11, with 32 counties still completing audits, KSNT reported; Democrat Cindy Holscher led Republican Ty Masterson 551,243 to 543,599, a 7,644-vote margin little changed from roughly 7,600 since mail ballots stopped arriving Nov. 6. Secretary of State Scott Schwab ordered close-race audits for contests within 1%, requiring hand counts from an additional 10% of precincts for comparison with machine totals; Johnson County had not reported results from its hand count of about 125,000 ballots, which began Nov. 9. Sedgwick County’s Board of Canvassers was scheduled to meet Thursday, Nov. 12, to determine which of roughly 5,700 to 6,000 provisional ballots qualify for counting after voter eligibility checks. Election Commissioner Laura Rainwater said provisional ballots remained outstanding but predicted Holscher and Republican secretary of state candidate Pat Proctor would retain their leads; neither race had been called, and Masterson said he would await verification and remaining provisional ballots before deciding whether to concede. The AP called the attorney general’s race for Democrat Chris Mann on Nov. 6, with no concession reported from Republican Kris Kobach, while audits in Kansas House Districts 27, 40 and 117 remained open. Counties must finish canvassing by Nov. 16, with recount requests due by 5 p.m. Nov. 17, leaving the remaining ballot decisions and any recount request central to resolving the governor’s race.

KSNT · KWCH · Axios

Wichita Council Considers Town Hall on ICE Partnerships

WICHITA, Kan. — City Council members Joseph Shepard, Maggie Ballard and Mike Hoheisel have proposed a resolution to keep Wichita police out of a federal immigration enforcement program. The program, known as 287(g), lets U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, train and authorize local officers to perform certain immigration duties. Wichita has no agreement to join the program and says it is not considering one, while Sedgwick County already participates. The council took no vote on the resolution Tuesday, Nov. 10, and agreed to discuss holding a public town hall. Mayor Lily Wu and council members J.V. Johnston, Becky Tuttle and Dalton Glasscock criticized the proposed restriction, with Wu saying it could draw unnecessary attention to Wichita. Shepard, Ballard and Hoheisel announced the proposal at an American Civil Liberties Union rally in September, and Shepard said he would keep pursuing it.

KWCH · KMUW

Kansas Leaders Keep Raise, Approve Bill-Drafting System

TOPEKA, Kan. — A 3-3 tie by the Legislative Coordinating Council on Friday, Nov. 6, left a scheduled 4.4% raise for Kansas’ 165 lawmakers intact, preserving a larger increase than the 1% approved for most state employees. Two members of the eight-member panel of House and Senate leaders, which oversees legislative business between sessions, were absent from the vote on a proposal to reduce the raise to 1% and leave the final decision to the 2027 Legislature. A 2023 law established an independent compensation commission whose plan sharply increased legislators’ base pay starting in 2025 and tied subsequent adjustments to Kansas personal income growth, according to Kansas Reflector. Lawmakers overrode Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto in April to preserve their 4.4% increase alongside 1% for state workers, with the legislative raise costing about $400,000, KCUR reported. Revisor of Statutes Gordon Self, who leads the Legislature’s bill-drafting office, questioned whether the council had authority to change legislative pay. At the same meeting, leaders approved using contractor Propylon’s long-delayed system, with about $8 million already spent on development, to draft, proof and publish bills for the January 2027 session, retaining the old system as a backup to help keep lawmaking on schedule under a new governor.

Kansas Reflector · Lawrence Times · KCUR · Kansas Legislature

Fuller Ends Great Bend Production After Betco Deal

GREAT BEND, Kan. — Fuller Industries ended production at its Great Bend plant Friday, Nov. 6, a week after selling its chemical business to Betco, which will move the acquired product lines to Bowling Green, Ohio. Great Bend employees were invited to apply for jobs at Betco’s Ohio plant if they relocate, but the company’s announcement did not guarantee positions, the Great Bend Tribune reported. Kansas WorkforceONE rapid-response coordinator Tucky Allen estimated about 90 employees were affected, though the agency lacked an exact count and Fuller had neither confirmed the figure nor said whether it filed a federal WARN layoff notice. Fuller has sold both its brush and chemical businesses but will retain the Great Bend building, which has two tenants and expects a third in January 2027, KSN reported. The plant, on the former Fuller Brush Company site, had 120 workers at a November 2024 ribbon-cutting and once employed more than 600. The production shutdown removes dozens of manufacturing jobs from the Barton County community, and WorkforceONE is offering affected workers free job-search assistance.

Great Bend Tribune · Great Bend Post · KSN

Topeka Council Members Seek Public Data Center Talks

TOPEKA, Kan. — Several Topeka City Council members said they would meet with Compass Data Centers only in public after residents alleged that city staff discussed the proposed campus without informing the council. Public commenters cited emails they said showed Deputy City Manager Braxton Copley and Utilities Director Sylvia Davis met with Rural Water District 3; the emails have not been independently reviewed, and the meeting account included no response from either official. The mayor and council members criticized the reported meeting, praised Interim City Manager Michael Webb’s requirement that department directors report directly to him, and warned staff against undermining the city’s data center moratorium; no vote was taken. Compass proposes up to 10 buildings on unincorporated land southwest of Topeka near Southwest 77th Street, where Shawnee County has approval authority, but county planners said in August that the company had not clarified whether it would use city utilities or Rural Water District 3 and a state-permitted wastewater lagoon. Topeka’s moratorium runs at least until mid-July 2027, and an August ordinance bars city water and wastewater service to data centers outside city limits, making the project’s utility arrangements central to the city’s influence over it. A citizen group is circulating petitions seeking permanent restrictions, including on city water service to data centers outside Topeka.

Topeka City Council Summary

Week of November 12, 2026

citizen journalCronkite

Topeka City Council · Shawnee County Planning · WIBW

Sources

1. KSNT / Yahoo News / Yahoo News / KWCH / Axios / KSNT via AOL
2. KWCH / KWCH video / KMUW / MEAT+POULTRY
3. Kansas Reflector / Lawrence Times / Lawrence Times / Kansas Reflector / KCUR / Kansas Reflector / Kansas Legislature meeting schedule
4. Great Bend Tribune / Great Bend Post / KSN / Great Bend Tribune
5. Topeka City Council meeting / Topeka utility restrictions meeting / Shawnee County planning discussion / WIBW

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