Kobach Faces Mann in Kansas Attorney General Rematch
The incumbent trails his challenger by nearly $500,000 in recent donations.
By Lina Lewis ·
Kris Kobach and Chris Mann will appear on the Kansas ballot again in 2026.
The two men contested the attorney general seat in 2022. Kobach won that election by a margin of 1.5 percentage points. The gap was the smallest in any statewide race that year. Both candidates are now preparing for a second round of campaigning.
Donor activity shows a sharp shift in financial support. Mann has received $477,000 more in recent donations than he did during the same period of the 2022 campaign. Kobach has collected about $22,000 less than his 2022 totals for the same timeframe. Mann said he expects to raise more money and travel to more parts of the state this time around.
Kobach is the incumbent Republican. He served in the George W. Bush administration and later held the office of Kansas secretary of state. He ran for governor in 2018 and lost the general election by four percentage points. He also sought a U.S. Senate seat in 2020 and lost the Republican primary. His legal education includes a Ph.D. from Oxford and a law degree from Yale.
Mann is the Democratic challenger. He has never held elected office. He worked as a police officer in Lawrence until a car accident forced him to retire. He later served as a prosecutor in Wyandotte County and for the Kansas Securities Commission. He has represented victims of drunk driving for much of his career.
The candidates offer different visions for the office. Kobach cites the state’s lowest crime rate in 56 years as evidence of his effectiveness. More than 50 Kansas sheriffs endorsed him for what they called proven law and order leadership. He has sued over Biden-era Title IX rules and challenged in-state tuition for non-citizens.
Mann argues the office should not promote partisan agendas. His website states the current administration has focused on grabbing headlines and scoring political points. He proposes expanding training and mental health resources for police officers. He also wants to fight AI-generated fraud and better fund domestic violence shelters.
The race pits a national figure in immigration policy against a local prosecutor. Kobach maintains his record of low crime. Mann points to the narrow 2022 margin as a sign the electorate is undecided. The next vote will determine who controls the state’s top law enforcement office.
