Democracy in Kansas in 2014

In the last election there were only contests in two or four congressional races and 41 of 125 state house seats had no opposition.

In this election the party managed to get candidates for all four House seats and also for the Senate seat and for all statewide offices.

We are not predicted to win any of the House races and I am confident we will not win the Senate race, but it is nice to have candidates.

In the state races, we went from 41 with no opposition to 50 with no opposition.

These were the open districts in 2012

The Republican only districts are (I know most people don't need this information, but perhaps the KDP can use it) - 6, 8, 9, 13, 15, 16, 17, 20, 26, 27, 45, 48, 61, 64, 68, 70, 74, 77, 78, 81, 82, 94, 99, 101, 104, 107, 108, 109, 113, 118, 120, 122, 123, 124, and 125. The Democrat only districts are - 32, 34, 35, 37, 46, and 103.

Compared to this year.

Republican only - 7, 9*, 11, 13, 28, 45*, 51, 60, 64*, 67, 68, 70*, 71*, 72*, 74, 77, 80*, 90, 91*, 94, 97*, 99, 101, 104, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 113, 116, 117*, 118, 120*, 122*, 123, 124, 125*

* indicates a primary challenge

Democrat only - 2, 31, 32, 34, 35, 37, 44, 57, 63, 66, 86, 103

Those with no opposition for two elections in a row

9, 13, 32, 34, 35, 37, 45, 64, 68, 70, 74, 77, 94, 99, 101, 103, 104, 107, 108, 109, 113, 118, 120, 122, 123, and 125

26 out of 125 districts

Of course, such is the partisan make-up of some of those districts that if somebody did challenge the incumbent they would just get thrashed no matter how much work they did or how much money they spent.

Still, if a Democratic candidate in those 38 districts where Republican incumbents are running unopposed brought out another 20-30 voters that might mean 1,000 more votes for the governor candidate.

And 50 out of 125 with no opposition means about 40% of voters have NO choice when they vote in November.