2016 Kansas Senate election

2016 Kansas Senate election

November 8, 2016
All 40 seats in the Kansas Senate 21 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Susan Wagle Anthony Hensley Party Republican Democratic Leader since January 14, 2012 January 8, 1996 Leader's seat District 30 District 19 Last election 32 8 Seats after 31 9 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 657,057 476,683 Percentage 57.56% 41.76%
President of the Senate before election Susan Wagle Republican Elected President of the Senate Susan Wagle Republican

The 2016 Kansas Senate election was held on November 8, 2016, to determine which party would control the Kansas Senate for the following four years in the 87th and 88th Kansas state Legislature. All 40 seats in the Kansas Senate were up for election and the primary was held on August 2, 2016. Prior to the election, 32 seats were held by Republicans and 8 seats were held by Democrats. The general election saw Democrats flipping a single seat, however Republicans retained their majority in the State Senate.^[1]

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Governing[2]	Likely R	October 12, 2016

Retirements

Republicans

1. District 7: Kay Wolf retired.
2. District 15: Jeff King retired.
3. District 25: Michael O'Donnell retired.
4. District 27: Leslie Donovan retired.
5. District 32: Steve Abrams retired.
6. District 33: Mitch Holmes retired.
7. District 38: Garrett Love retired.
8. District 40: Ralph Ostmeyer retired.

Incumbents defeated

In primary

Republicans

1. District 11: Jeff Melcher lost renomination to John Skubal.
2. District 14: Forrest Knox lost renomination to Bruce Givens.
3. District 21: Greg Smith lost renomination to Dinah Sykes.
4. District 24: Tom Arpke lost renomination to Randall Hardy.
5. District 34: Terry Bruce lost renomination to Ed Berger.
6. District 39: Larry Powell lost renomination to John Doll.

Closest races

Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. District 5, 1.94%
2. District 10, 2.62%
3. District 28, 2.92%
4. District 3, 3.06%
5. District 18, 3.20%
6. District 8, 5.56%
7. District 21, 7.94%
8. District 7, 8.60%

Results

District 1

District 1 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dennis Pyle (incumbent)	18,283	59.30%
	Democratic	Jerry Henry	13,076	41.70%
Total votes			31,359	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 2

District 2 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Marci Francisco (incumbent)	24,147	66.11%
	Republican	Meredith Richey	12,378	33.89%
Total votes			36,525	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 3

District 3 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tom Holland (incumbent)	17,214	51.53%
	Republican	Echo Van Meteren	16,189	48.47%
Total votes			33,403	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 4

District 4 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	David Haley (incumbent)	17,090	100.0%
Total votes			17,090	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 5

District 5 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Steve Fitzgerald (incumbent)	13,336	50.97%
	Democratic	Bill Hutton	12,828	49.03%
Total votes			26,164	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 6

District 6 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Pat Pettey (incumbent)	12,640	70.80%
	Libertarian	Jason Conley	5,213	29.20%
Total votes			17,853	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 7

District 7 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Barbara Bollier	22,439	54.30%
	Democratic	Megan England	18,884	45.70%
Total votes			41,323	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 8

District 8 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jim Denning (incumbent)	19,847	52.78%
	Democratic	Don McGuire	17,758	47.22%
Total votes			37,605	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 9

District 9 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Julia Lynn (incumbent)	20,574	60.01%
	Democratic	Chris Morrow	13,708	39.99%
Total votes			34,282	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 10

District 10 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mary Pilcher-Cook (incumbent)	18,673	51.31%
	Democratic	Vicki Hiatt	17,722	48.69%
Total votes			36,395	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 11

District 11 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Skubal	25,992	65.02%
	Democratic	Skip Fannen	13,983	34.98%
Total votes			39,975	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 12

District 12 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Caryn Tyson (incumbent)	18,998	73.31%
	Democratic	Christopher Johnston	6,918	26.69%
Total votes			25,916	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 13

District 13 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jake LaTurner (incumbent)	15,737	56.15%
	Democratic	Lynn Grant	12,291	43.85%
Total votes			28,028	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 14

District 14 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bruce Givens	20,452	72.64%
	Democratic	Mark Pringle	7,702	27.36%
Total votes			28,154	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 15

District 15 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dan Goddard	15,511	60.89%
	Democratic	Chuck Schmidt	9,963	39.11%
Total votes			25,474	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 16

District 16 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ty Masterson (incumbent)	20,980	64.66%
	Democratic	Gabriel Costilla	11,467	35.34%
Total votes			32,447	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 17

District 17 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jeff Longbine (incumbent)	13,161	59.00%
	Democratic	Susan Fowler	9,147	41.00%
Total votes			22,308	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 18

District 18 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Laura Kelly (incumbent)	15,007	51.60%
	Republican	Dave Jackson	14,076	48.40%
Total votes			29,083	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 19

District 19 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Anthony Hensley (incumbent)	16,181	57.28%
	Republican	Zach Haney	12,068	42.72%
Total votes			28,249	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 20

District 20 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Vicki Schmidt (incumbent)	22,216	65.36%
	Democratic	Candace Ayars	11,775	34.64%
Total votes			33,991	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 21

District 21 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dinah Sykes	18,149	50.34%
	Democratic	Logan Heley	15,287	42.40%
	Libertarian	Michael Kerner	2,617	7.26%
Total votes			36,053	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 22

District 22 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tom Hawk (incumbent)	20,849	100.0%
Total votes			20,849	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 23

District 23 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Robert S. Olson (incumbent)	19,277	60.57%
	Democratic	Spencer Kerfoot	12,551	39.43%
Total votes			31,828	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 24

District 24 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Randall Hardy	16,195	59.06%
	Democratic	Donald Merriman	11,228	40.94%
Total votes			27,423	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 25

District 25 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Lynn Rogers	11,704	58.49%
	Republican	Jim Price	8,308	41.51%
Total votes			20,012	100.0%
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 26

District 26 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dan Kerschen (incumbent)	20,274	69.47%
	Democratic	Benjamin Poteete	8,911	30.53%
Total votes			29,185	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 27

District 27 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Gene Suellentrop	22,252	66.50%
	Democratic	Tony Hunter	11,209	33.50%
Total votes			33,461	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 28

District 28 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mike Petersen (incumbent)	9,915	51.46%
	Democratic	Keith Humphrey	9,353	48.54%
Total votes			19,268	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 29

District 29 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Oletha Faust-Goudeau (incumbent)	14,511	100.0%
Total votes			14,511	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 30

District 30 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Susan Wagle (incumbent)	16,636	58.53%
	Democratic	Anabel Larumbe	11,786	41.47%
Total votes			28,422	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 31

District 31 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Carolyn McGinn (incumbent)	23,463	74.51%
	Democratic	J. Michelle Vann	8,026	25.49%
Total votes			31,489	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 32

District 32 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Larry Alley	16,221	62.23%
	Democratic	Don Shimkus	9,844	37.77%
Total votes			26,065	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 33

District 33 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mary Jo Taylor	21,114	76.55%
	Democratic	Matt Bristow	6,467	23.45%
Total votes			27,581	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 34

District 34 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ed Berger	21,559	82.21%
	Democratic	Homer Gilson	4,664	17.79%
Total votes			26,223	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 35

District 35 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Rick Wilborn (incumbent)	21,271	71.36%
	Democratic	Levi Morris	8,538	28.64%
Total votes			29,809	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 36

District 36 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Elaine Bowers (incumbent)	26,816	85.12%
	Democratic	Brian Angevine	4,686	14.88%
Total votes			31,502	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 37

District 37 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Molly Baumgardner (incumbent)	24,965	68.07%
	Democratic	Kevin King	11,709	31.93%
Total votes			36,674	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 38

District 38 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bud Estes	12,884	75.73%
	Democratic	Miguel Angel Rodriguez	4,130	24.27%
Total votes			17,014	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 39

District 39 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Doll	12,884	79.02%
	Democratic	A. Zacheriah Worf	3,421	20.98%
Total votes			16,305	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 40

District 40 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Rick Billinger	23,964	74.26%
	Democratic	Alex Herman	8,308	25.74%
Total votes			32,272	100.0%
	Republican hold

References

1. "Kansas State Senate elections, 2016". ballotpedia.org. Retrieved December 5, 2025.
2. Cournoyer, Caroline (October 12, 2016). "November Likely to Lessen GOP's Advantage in Legislatures". Governing. Retrieved December 5, 2025.

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