Two Kansas House districts in Johnson County are among six races being audited statewide by election officials because of how close their margins were after election night.
Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab announced six “close-race” audits on Wednesday afternoon, a day after Tuesday’s midterm elections.
All six races were within 1% after Tuesday’s unofficial final vote count, triggering a state statute, KS 25-3009, requiring the “close-race” audit.
The races to be audited include those for:
- Governor
- Secretary of State
- Attorney General
- Kansas House District 27
- Kansas House District 40
- Kansas House District 117
Release: Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab Initiates Close-Race Audit #ksleg #kselections https://t.co/xzJnAYVPE4
— Kansas Secretary of State (@KansasSOS) November 4, 2026
The audit entails reviewing ballots in 10% of precincts in each county for the race. This is in addition to routine post-election audits in which one precinct is audited in each county.
“Close-race” audits are conducted by county election officials and require a hand count of selected ballots, according to the statute.
Those hand counts are then compared with the results produced by the voting tabulators — the machines that count the paper ballots — to verify the totals match.
Two razor-thin JoCo House district races
House District 27 covers parts of southern Leawood and Oveland Park in southeastern Johnson County.
Republican Rep. Sean Tarwater was first elected to the seat in 2016. He trailed Democrat Sara Kiewiet by 41 votes after Tuesday’s unofficial count.
In a statement to the Post on Wednesday, Kiewiet said she was “cautiously optimistic” about maintaining her lead, even as mail-in and provisional ballots are also counted this week. (After an update of vote counts Wednesday, Kiewiet’s lead expanded to 42 votes.)
“Regardless of the final outcome, I am SO proud of District 27. Johnson County turnout was 62%. Our district turnout was 69.5%. That means 13,685 out of 19,710 registered voters chose to use their voice. Incredible! I want to sincerely thank every single person who came out to vote,” Kiewiet said.
Tarwater had not responded to the Post’s request for comment at the time of publication.
House District 117 is split roughly in half between Johnson and Douglas counties and covers parts of De Soto, Lenexa, Olathe and Shawnee.
Democrat Brandon Holland currently leads Republican Rep. Adam Turk by 134 votes in that race, 6,601 votes to 6,467, according to the latest vote counts reported by the Secretary of State’s office.
Holscher declares victory
Cindy Holscher, the Democratic nominee for governor from Overland Park, declared victory in the razor-thin contest to determine Kansas’ next governor on Wednesday morning.
The Associated Press has yet to officially call the race, but Holscher released a statement saying she was “deeply honored” Kansans had selected her to succeed Gov. Laura Kelly.
After updated vote counts on Wednesday, Holscher led Republican Ty Masterson by 6,449 votes, still within 1%.
“The people of Kansas made their voices heard, and I’m deeply honored by the trust Kansans placed in me to serve as your next governor. Whether I earned your vote or not, I will work for you,” Holscher said on Wednesday.
Masterson released his own statement on Wednesday that said, in part, “The first count does not seem to be going our way, but the margin is narrow enough that Kansas law calls for another look, and we’ll let that process finish. Every Kansan deserves to know the result is right.”
Kelly also weighed in, congratulating “governor-elect” Holscher, noting that it would be the first time in Kansas history that a Democrat succeeds a Democrat as Kansas governor.
Other races to watch
In the race for Secretary of State, Republican Pat Proctor led Democrat Jennifer Day by slightly more than 10,000 votes after Wednesday’s update.
Proctor told the Post earlier Wednesday, “It looks like we won,” and added he felt good where the race stood.
Day said the race remained “too close to call.”
“We are going to remain patient, follow the process, and make sure every eligible ballot is accounted for. This is about the integrity of our elections and making sure every Kansan has a voice,” she said.
United Kansas candidate Scott Morgan totaled roughly 4% of the vote in the Secretary of State’s race.
In the contest for Attorney General, Democrat Chris Mann’s lead over Republican incumbent Kris Kobach expanded slightly after Wednesday’s update, to nearly 12,200, out of more than 1 million votes cast in that race.
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