2008 United States presidential election in Kansas

The 2008 United States presidential election in Kansas took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 6 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Main article: 2008 United States presidential election
2008 United States presidential election in Kansas
November 4, 2008
 
Nominee John McCain Barack Obama
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Arizona Illinois
Running mate Sarah Palin Joe Biden
Electoral vote 6 0
Popular vote 699,655 514,765
Percentage 56.48% 41.55%
County Results
President before election

George W. Bush
Republican

 Elected President

Barack Obama
Democratic

Elections in Kansas
Federal government
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2008
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Kansas was won by Republican nominee John McCain by a 14.9% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state McCain would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. He won all but three counties and one congressional district in the state.

As of 2020, this is the last time that Crawford County went for the Democratic candidate in a presidential election.

Caucuses

Campaign

Predictions

There were 16 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day:

Polling
Main article: Statewide opinion polling for the United States presidential election, 2008: Kansas

McCain won every pre-election poll. Since March 16, McCain won each poll with a double-digit margin and at least 47% of the vote.[14]

Fundraising

John McCain raised a total of $1,219,074 in the state. Barack Obama raised $1,548,322.[15]

Advertising and visits

Obama spent $62,108. McCain and his interest groups spent $13,693.[16] Neither campaign visited the state.[17]

Analysis

Kansas has always been a Republican stronghold at the presidential level, voting for GOP nominees in all but seven elections since statehood. The last Democratic presidential nominee to carry the Sunflower State was Lyndon B. Johnson in his landslide in 1964. Although the state did receive attention from Barack Obama, whose mother was born in Kansas, it wasn't enough to overcome the deeply planted GOP roots in the state. John McCain carried Kansas by a comfortable 15-percent margin of victory. McCain's margin of victory in Kansas, however, was less than that of George W. Bush who carried the state in 2004 with 62% of the vote over John Kerry's 36.62% showing in the state - a 10-point swing to the Democrats in 2008.

Obama only won three counties - Crawford (home to Pittsburg), Douglas (home to Lawrence), and Wyandotte (home to Kansas City). The first two were home to large college populations, while Wyandotte had a significant African-American population. He did, however, succeed in winning 41% of the state's popular vote. Only two other Democrats have cracked the 40 percent barrier in the state since Johnson's 1964 landslide (Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Michael Dukakis in 1988).

To highlight its status as a reliably red state, former State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins, a Republican, ousted incumbent Democratic U.S. Representative Nancy Boyda to win back Kansas's 2nd Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Jenkins received 50.80% of the vote to Boyda's 45.97%. At the same time, incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Pat Roberts was reelected with 60.06% of the vote over former Democratic U.S. Representative Jim Slattery. Republicans also made gains in the Kansas Senate, picking up one seat.

As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Crawford County voted for the Democratic candidate.

Results
2008 United States presidential election in Kansas[18]
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican John McCain Sarah Palin 699,655 56.48% 6
Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 514,765 41.55% 0
Independent Ralph Nader Matt Gonzalez 10,527 0.85% 0
Libertarian Bob Barr Wayne Allyn Root 6,706 0.54% 0
Reform Chuck Baldwin Darrell Castle 4,148 0.33% 0
Write-ins Write-ins 3,037 0.24% 0
Green Cynthia McKinney (write-in) Rosa Clemente 35 0.00% 0
Totals 1,238,873 100.00% 6
Voter turnout (Voting age population) 60.8%

Results breakdown

By county
County Obama% Obama# McCain% McCain# Others% Others# Total
Allen37.36%2,18960.62%3,5522.01%1185,859
Anderson32.40%1,17565.14%2,3622.45%893,626
Atchison45.07%3,24152.72%3,7912.21%1597,191
Barber24.29%59874.45%1,8331.26%312,462
Barton27.38%3,02770.56%7,8022.06%22811,057
Bourbon35.30%2,39462.53%4,2402.17%1476,781
Brown30.10%1,31768.21%2,9851.69%744,376
Butler32.86%9,15965.13%18,1552.01%55927,873
Chase27.67%38370.52%9761.81%251,384
Chautauqua21.65%40176.57%1,4181.78%331,852
Cherokee37.19%3,59460.90%5,8861.91%1859,665
Cheyenne21.56%32376.64%1,1481.80%271,498
Clark21.14%24577.39%8971.47%171,159
Clay24.89%1,00973.95%2,9981.16%474,054
Cloud27.70%1,23370.12%3,1212.18%974,451
Coffey26.49%1,12172.16%3,0541.35%574,232
Comanche19.92%19478.54%7651.54%15974
Cowley36.35%5,01261.59%8,4922.05%28313,787
Crawford49.50%7,95748.12%7,7352.38%38316,075
Decatur22.16%34376.81%1,1891.03%161,548
Dickinson27.95%2,42270.16%6,0811.89%1648,667
Doniphan31.29%1,11566.55%2,3722.16%773,564
Douglas64.42%34,39833.58%17,9292.01%1,07153,398
Edwards24.54%33373.32%9952.14%291,357
Elk25.31%36372.66%1,0422.02%291,434
Ellis32.22%4,01065.94%8,2071.85%23012,447
Ellsworth28.97%85168.79%2,0212.25%662,938
Finney31.63%3,27566.89%6,9261.48%15310,354
Ford33.74%2,99164.64%5,7301.61%1438,864
Franklin37.76%4,43360.30%7,0791.93%22711,739
Geary43.13%3,49155.50%4,4921.37%1118,094
Gove18.41%26180.11%1,1361.48%211,418
Graham22.84%32574.49%1,0602.67%381,423
Grant23.86%63574.97%1,9951.16%312,661
Gray20.58%43677.54%1,6431.89%402,119
Greeley20.27%15179.33%5910.40%3745
Greenwood27.29%62271.04%1,6191.67%382,279
Hamilton21.26%23377.01%8441.73%191,096
Harper26.32%73671.49%1,9992.18%612,796
Harvey40.47%6,31857.68%9,0061.85%28915,613
Haskell17.71%27881.34%1,2770.96%151,570
Hodgeman19.25%21178.92%8651.82%201,096
Jackson36.91%2,30860.95%3,8112.14%1346,253
Jefferson39.58%3,54258.32%5,2202.10%1888,950
Jewell19.76%31377.71%1,2312.53%401,584
Johnson44.84%127,09153.85%152,6271.31%3,714283,432
Kearny20.85%30978.21%1,1590.94%141,482
Kingman26.28%96371.04%2,6032.67%983,664
Kiowa17.62%20080.35%9122.03%231,135
Labette42.51%3,83955.38%5,0012.11%1919,031
Lane18.79%19379.26%8141.95%201,027
Leavenworth43.33%13,25554.89%16,7911.78%54530,591
Lincoln21.88%34775.91%1,2042.21%351,586
Linn30.86%1,42566.84%3,0862.30%1064,617
Logan15.63%22582.43%1,1871.94%281,440
Lyon45.88%5,92451.88%6,6982.24%28912,911
Marion29.72%1,80168.64%4,1591.63%996,059
Marshall35.42%1,78462.69%3,1571.89%955,036
McPherson31.51%4,21866.77%8,9371.72%23013,385
Meade18.49%35779.75%1,5401.76%341,931
Miami37.34%5,74261.01%9,3821.65%25315,377
Mitchell21.89%70176.18%2,4401.94%623,203
Montgomery31.19%4,33866.94%9,3091.87%26013,907
Morris31.93%90766.00%1,8752.08%592,841
Morton16.33%22982.24%1,1531.43%201,402
Nemaha26.72%1,43271.23%3,8172.05%1105,359
Neosho35.64%2,56362.19%4,4732.17%1567,192
Ness18.95%28979.15%1,2071.90%291,525
Norton20.58%49777.76%1,8781.66%402,415
Osage33.59%2,53463.89%4,8202.52%1907,544
Osborne20.88%40377.20%1,4901.92%371,930
Ottawa22.81%70475.28%2,3231.91%593,086
Pawnee30.64%88267.59%1,9461.77%512,879
Phillips19.69%52578.93%2,1051.39%372,667
Pottawatomie26.42%2,59970.44%6,9293.14%3099,837
Pratt30.88%1,29467.35%2,8221.77%744,190
Rawlins17.62%27380.50%1,2471.87%291,549
Reno37.40%9,91660.77%16,1121.83%48426,512
Republic23.96%64074.05%1,9781.98%532,671
Rice28.92%1,16369.14%2,7801.94%784,021
Riley45.64%10,49552.66%12,1111.70%39122,997
Rooks18.08%46879.91%2,0682.01%522,588
Rush28.30%50468.78%1,2252.92%521,781
Russell22.35%73676.19%2,5091.46%483,293
Saline35.92%8,18662.16%14,1651.92%43722,788
Scott14.73%32183.66%1,8231.61%352,179
Sedgwick42.72%82,33755.44%106,8491.83%3,530192,716
Seward27.98%1,49371.05%3,7910.97%525,336
Shawnee48.99%41,23549.27%41,4761.74%1,46684,177
Sheridan18.46%25480.52%1,1081.02%141,376
Sherman25.44%68872.45%1,9592.11%572,704
Smith20.24%44677.99%1,7191.77%392,204
Stafford26.13%54272.08%1,4951.78%372,074
Stanton22.73%18875.94%6281.33%11827
Stevens13.31%28385.33%1,8151.36%292,127
Sumner32.44%3,35365.17%6,7372.39%24710,337
Thomas21.43%78777.24%2,8371.33%493,673
Trego25.13%42073.31%1,2251.56%261,671
Wabaunsee29.42%1,03668.02%2,3952.56%903,521
Wallace11.94%9685.82%6902.24%18804
Washington22.11%65975.44%2,2482.45%732,980
Wichita16.00%16382.43%8401.57%161,019
Wilson28.39%1,17069.16%2,8502.45%1014,121
Woodson32.02%51265.98%1,0552.00%321,599
Wyandotte69.73%39,86528.87%16,5061.40%79857,169

By congressional district

John McCain carried three of the state’s four congressional districts.

District McCain Obama Representative
1st 68.60% 29.61% Jerry Moran
2nd 54.87% 43.20% Nancy Boyda (110th Congress)
Lynn Jenkins (111th Congress)
3rd 48.01% 50.59% Dennis Moore
4th 58.38% 39.72% Todd Tiahrt

Electors
Main article: List of 2008 United States presidential electors

Technically the voters of Kansas cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Kansas is allocated 6 electors because it has 4 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 6 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 6 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them.[19] An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 15, 2008, to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 6 were pledged to John McCain and Sarah Palin:[20]

  1. Tom Arpke
  2. Jeff Colyer
  3. David Kensinger
  4. Kris Kobach
  5. Mike Pompeo
  6. Helen Van Etten

References
  1. "D.C.'s Political Report: The complete source for campaign summaries". Archived from the original on 2009-01-01. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
  2. Presidential | The Cook Political Report Archived May 5, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  3. Adnaan (2008-09-20). "Track the Electoral College vote predictions". The Takeaway. Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
  4. Electoral-vote.com: President, Senate, House Updated Daily
  5. Based on Takeaway
  6. POLITICO's 2008 Swing State Map - POLITICO.com
  7. RealClearPolitics - Electoral Map
  8. CQ Politics | CQ Presidential Election Maps, 2008 Archived June 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  9. "Electoral College Map". The New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  10. "October – 2008 – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  11. "Winning the Electoral College". Fox News. April 27, 2010.
  12. roadto270
  13. Election 2008: Electoral College Update - Rasmussen Reports™
  14. Election 2008 Polls - Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections
  15. "Presidential Campaign Finance". Archived from the original on 2009-03-24. Retrieved 2009-08-20.
  16. "Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  17. "Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  18. "Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". Retrieved 2013-01-13.
  19. "Electoral College". California Secretary of State. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  20. Kansas Secretary of State - 2008 Presidential Electors
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