TOPEKA (KSNT) – There’s less than a week left until Election Day, and new numbers from the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office could provide insight into how each party is performing at the polls.
Things are heating up in Kansas ahead of the general election on Nov. 3. Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Adam Hamilton is hitting the road, making a campaign stop in Topeka Wednesday, and in the Wichita area Thursday. A week after President Donald Trump visited Park City, he’ll be making another trip to the Sunflower State this Saturday at the Salina Regional Airport.
According to the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office, over 192,000 ballots have been cast in person so far. The Democratic Party held a nearly 10,000-vote lead with in-person voting over the Republican Party a week ago.
Oct. 21, 2026, Vote Breakdown:
- Democrat – 37,419
- Republican – 27,982
- Libertarian – 284
- Unaffiliated – 9,512
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New numbers show the gap is closing. As of Oct. 27, that lead has narrowed to about 5,000 votes.
Oct. 27, 2026, Vote Breakdown:
- Ballots cast in person
- Democrat – 85,413
- Republican – 80,367
- Libertarian – 874
- Unaffiliated – 26,009
Our Kansas Capitol Bureau reached out to political analyst Bob Beatty with Washburn University to learn more about what this means for each party.
“So, it’s bound to have the Republicans catch up,” Beatty said. “As more voting happens, the sheer number of Republicans is so much greater than Democrats. I think what it did tell us those early numbers was how excited many Democrats were to get out and vote. And that’s very common in a midterm as we get closer to Election Day, that the Republicans will have an advantage in voting. That’s just natural.”
Our Kansas Capitol Bureau asked Beatty if this means the momentum is shifting towards the Republicans.
“The big question is who’s turning out?” Beatty said. “And we don’t know that. We know it’s Democrats and Republicans, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we know who they’re voting for…that’s the big question that we won’t know until Election Day.”
Beatty went on to say that the low turnout so far among unaffiliated voters is leading both the Democratic and Republican party to focus their attention on their respective bases. For more election information, head over to the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office website.
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