Kansas Democrats, Republicans lean into voter engagement strategies in top-of-ticket races

SHAWNEE — Becca Peck demonstrated personal commitment to getting out the vote by knocking on 4,627 doors for the Johnson County Democratic Party.

So far.

Her total stands as the best this year among party volunteers in Johnson County, but that didn’t include more than 1,400 residences she approached on behalf of individual candidates in this election cycle or the canvassing she planned to finish before Nov. 3.

Instead of hunkering down in her Overland Park home to obsess about polling numbers or the latest campaign news, Peck said, she found purpose in going door-to-door and speaking directly with potential voters about what was at stake on the ballot. While she encountered discontent regarding some candidates, she said informal chats with people registered to voter revealed enthusiasm for taking part in this election.

“Normally in the midterms, I will get a lot of people that say, ‘I’m not voting this year.’ This year, everybody’s voting,” Peck said Sunday in Shawnee during the final stop on the Kansas Democratic Party’s candidate bus tour.

Tracking of advance balloting by the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office offered insight into voter engagement. As of Friday, 154,000 Kansans had submitted advance ballots in-person or by mail. That surpassed advance voting — at this juncture — in the previous two midterm elections. At this time in 2022, 92,000 Kansas had cast votes. By this point in the 2018 election cycle, 119,000 had put pen on paper to vote.

Republicans and Democrats are well aware that registered Democrats made up 73,000 of the state’s preliminary total. The early tally indicated about 60,000 registered Republicans and 20,000 registered independents had taken advantage of the opportunity to vote before Election Day.

GOP’s call to vote

During the Oct. 19 rally hosted by President Donald Trump in Park City, Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach and GOP gubernatorial candidate Ty Masterson took turns begging Trump loyalists to get to the polls.

Kobach, who is running against Democrat Chris Mann, pointed to statistics that suggested Democrats were more eager than Republicans to take part in the midterm.

“That means that the opponent got out of the starting blocks faster than us,” Kobach told the crowd before Trump took the stage. “I know everybody here is going to vote, but just call someone. Call a friend. Call a cousin you haven’t spoken to in awhile. Just say, ‘Hey, let’s have lunch and go vote together.’ We need to get our people to the polls.”

Kobach predicted Kansas races for U.S. Senate, attorney general and governor were “going to be extremely close.”

Mann said he was confident his rematch with Kobach would have a different outcome than in 2022.

“It is time to take this office away from one man’s political agenda and bring it back to the people of Kansas,” Mann said, speaking at the Democrat’s rally Sunday in Shawnee.

Masterson, president of the Kansas Senate, relied on Trump’s endorsement to win the GOP primary in August. He said during the Park City event with Trump that strong Republican turnout was essential in his campaign against Democratic nominee Cindy Holscher, who also serves in the Kansas Senate.

“This is all for nothing if you don’t get out and vote,” Masterson said. “Every single person in this arena and 10 of your friends, and 10 of their friends. That’s what makes a difference.”

Holscher, speaking to more than 150 Democrats in Shawnee, said the 2026 election demonstrated how challenging it was to campaign for statewide office. Like Masterson, she made a get-out-the-vote pitch.

“There’s never been a time when we needed good, reasonable people more,” she said. “Thank you for the work you’ve done and what you’re going to do to help us get across the finish line. I’m asking you to make sure that not only do you get out and vote, but you find five friends that you can get out to vote. We can’t just wish for it or think it’s going to happen on its own. I gotta have you making phone calls. I’ve gotta have you knockin’ doors. I’ve got to have you donating.”

The ground game

Deann Mitchell, chair of the Johnson County Democratic Party, said the Democrats’ effort to drive turnout began long before the August primary. The goal was to contact potential voters with information about registration, advance ballot acquisition, deadlines for voting and issues that might influence decisions, she said.

She said pressure from Kobach, Masterson and U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall to convince Republican voters to head to the polls could be a reflection of comments Democratic volunteers had been picking up as the general election drew closer.

“We’re hearing from Republicans, you know, that they’re not excited about their candidates, but yet they can’t flip the switch and vote for a Democrat. So, they’re just not going to vote,” Mitchell said.

She said Trump’s sagging favorability rating and Marshall’s strategy of doubling down on his relationship with the president could be significant in the final phase of the U.S. Senate showdown. Vice President JD Vance was traveling Monday to Topeka for his second campaign stop in support of Marshall.

“We don’t want a radical Democrat representing Kansas in the U.S. Senate,” Marshall said during the Trump rally in Park City. “I am asking for your vote. I’m asking you all to get out and vote.”

Adam Hamilton, the church pastor and Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, said Marshall’s campaign was focused on events restricted to GOP supporters. Marshall took part in the Kansas State Fair debate with Hamilton, but generally had avoided open forums with Kansans after walking out of a 2025 town hall in Oakley, where he accused participants of being disrespectful.

During a 20-community bus tour, Hamilton met Sunday with Kansans in Oakley to talk about their concerns, including the cost of living, war with Iran, healthcare access and corruption in Washington, D.C.

“Roger Marshall said that meeting with Kansans is dangerous, but I met the Kansans he ran away from in Oakley,” Hamilton said. “And they’re not dangerous to me. They’re good, decent people who want leaders that listen to their concerns. They expect their senator to fight for them and stand up for them, not run and hide.”