{"id":4418,"date":"2026-08-05T12:09:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T12:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4418"},"modified":"2026-08-05T12:09:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T12:09:41","slug":"kansas-voters-reject-gop-led-amendment-to-state-constitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4418","title":{"rendered":"Kansas voters reject GOP-led amendment to state constitution"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

TOPEKA \u2014 Kansas voters Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to rewrite the state constitution and elect Kansas Supreme Court justices, spiking a plan long coveted by Republicans who want more conservative rulings on issues including abortion and school funding.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump has finally hit \u2018a brick wall\u2019 he can\u2019t talk his way around<\/a><\/p>\n

About 62% of Kansans were voting \u201cno\u201d on the constitutional amendment with 593,695 votes counted as of 11:15 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis victory is beyond gratifying,\u201d said retired Supreme Court Justice Carol Beier, who opposed the amendment. \u201cKansans have made their wishes known, and those wishes are noble. The Kansas Supreme Court must remain fair and impartial for every citizen. It cannot and will not be bought to give a few an unfair advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The primary ballot asked voters to evaluate a proposal that would spike a 68-year-old system for selecting justices for the highest court, a system born out of scandal from an era when justices were elected and the governor had total control over selecting replacements.<\/p>\n

The amendment instead would give voters the power to vote on candidates for the Supreme Court, and mega-donors the power to influence court decisions.<\/p>\n

Danedri Herbert, chair of the Kansas Republican Party, issued a warning Tuesday morning that the vote on whether to elect Supreme Court justices was \u201cthe most important election of our lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I know everyone says that every year,\u201d Herbert said. \u201cThis cycle, it\u2019s true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Herbert, in a social media video, said the constitutional amendment \u201cis the difference between Kansas becoming Detroit or Kansas becoming a land of prosperity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conservatives have long raged against Kansas Supreme Court rulings that upheld constitutional rights to terminate a pregnancy and adequately fund public schools. They plotted to change the way Supreme Court justices are selected and, as a result, overturn those rulings.<\/p>\n

With supermajorities in both the House and Senate, Republicans in the Legislature adopted a resolution during the 2025 session to place this constitutional amendment on the 2026 primary ballot. The goal was to hold the vote on a date when independent voters would have no other reason to show up at the polls. Republicans hold a sizable advantage over Democrats in the state in terms of affiliated voters who participate in primary elections.<\/p>\n

The same gambit failed four years ago, when voters overwhelmingly rejected a constitutional amendment that would have removed abortion rights from the state constitution. That amendment failed by a 60-40 margin with 942,851 Kansans weighing in, just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of people are just frustrated that we\u2019re seeing this effort again to change the constitution because the state Legislature doesn\u2019t like what the Supreme Court has done,\u201d said Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, speaking with reporters after she voted Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are plenty of us who disagree with court rulings on a regular basis, but you don\u2019t completely change the way that we get Supreme Court justices just because you don\u2019t like some of the rulings that they make,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes and Kansas Appleseed joined forces to form Kansas United for Impartial Courts in a campaign to oppose the constitutional amendment. They warned that the amendment would allow out-of-state billionaires to buy the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe billionaire political donors and politicians behind this amendment tried to buy our Supreme Court,\u201d said Micah Kubic, executive director of the ACLU of Kansas. \u201cThey tried to turn our justices into politicians for sale, all so they could control the court\u2019s rulings and take away our rights. But tonight, Kansas said no.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attorney General Kobach, though his PAC and various conservative groups, flooded airwaves and mailboxes with ads that criticized the current selection process.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a GOP watch party Tuesday night in Wichita, Kobach said the vote \u201ccreates more certainty\u201d that the current justices will decide cases that are making their way through the judicial system.<\/p>\n

Read more Hannity throws Fox News under the bus as shock poll busts his talking point<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIf there had been a shift, there would be some question as to who would eventually be on the court that hears those cases,\u201d Kobach said. \u201cNow we know it\u2019s probably going to be the justices right now, unless somebody retires.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least $12.8 million, much of it dark money, fueled \u201cvote yes\u201d and \u201cvote no\u201d campaigns ahead of Tuesday\u2019s primary.<\/p>\n

The current system is the result of a notorious political scandal known as the \u201ctriple play.\u201d In 1956, incumbent Republican Gov. Fred Hall lost his primary election, and Democrat George Docking defeated the Republican nominee in November. Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Smith, a Republican, was prepared to retire midterm but didn\u2019t want a Democrat to choose his replacement.<\/p>\n

At the start of the new year, Smith resigned from the Supreme Court, Hall resigned as governor, and the new governor appointed Hall to take Smith\u2019s seat on the court.<\/p>\n

The following year, more than 70% of Kansas voters approved a constitutional amendment that created a merit-based system. It established a nominating commission, with attorneys choosing five members and the governor appointing four. The commission vets candidates for Supreme Court openings and sends three finalists to the governor, who chooses from those three.<\/p>\n

Justices face retention votes in the next general election, and again every six years.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s constitutional amendment would have required justices to run for office like candidates for other political positions, and removes current restrictions on justices engaging in political activities or raising money for campaigns. The amendment authorized the Legislature to determine how elections would be conducted \u2014 partisan or nonpartisan, statewide or by districts that lawmakers draw.<\/p>\n

Proponents of this year\u2019s amendment point out that no justice has ever lost a retention election.<\/p>\n

Rep. Bob Lewis, a Garden City Republican, said in a video ad posted on social media that it was \u201cbalderdash\u201d to claim that voters already get to evaluate justices.<\/p>\n

\u201cA retention election is not an election at all. It\u2019s not competitive,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cVoters are given only one choice: Vote yes or no for this particular candidate. A true election, as we all know, is grounded in competition, giving the voters a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said a retention election is \u201ca rubber stamp.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a rigged election, much like in communist countries,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cThe result is foregone. You pick the guy the politburo has picked, or you pick no one.\u201d<\/p>\n

The video was paid for by Derby Republican Rep. Blake Carpenter\u2019s reelection campaign.<\/p>\n

Advance voting totals showed a dramatic drop-off from the historic turnout four years ago, when the anti-abortion amendment was on the ballot. This year, 176,703 Kansans had voted by mail or in person as of Monday. In 2022, 320,048 voted by mail or in person before Election Day.<\/p>\n

The stakes were underscored when Christopher Jayaram, minutes before becoming the newest Supreme Court justice Monday, issued an opinion that strikes down numerous abortion restrictions under state law, some dating to 1997. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly selected Jayaram, who was a Johnson County district judge, from the three finalists for an open seat on the high court.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight Kansans rebuffed a constitutional amendment that was designed to undermine access to abortion, mislead voters, and politicize the state\u2019s Supreme Court,\u201d said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes.<\/p>\n

Read more Even Republicans are now saying the GOP has gone too far<\/a><\/p>\n

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kansas voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposal long coveted by Republicans who want more conservative rulings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nKansas voters reject GOP-led amendment to state constitution - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4418\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kansas voters reject GOP-led amendment to state constitution - Next Address America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kansas voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposal long coveted by Republicans who want more conservative rulings.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4418\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next Address America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-05T12:09:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4418#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4418\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3\"},\"headline\":\"Kansas voters reject GOP-led amendment to state constitution\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-05T12:09:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4418\"},\"wordCount\":1293,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4418#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/21954d13e9da9fe0b809e0bdf4adaa09.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4418#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4418\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4418\",\"name\":\"Kansas voters reject GOP-led amendment to state constitution - 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