2008 United States presidential election in Kansas

2008 United States presidential election in Kansas

← 2004 November 4, 2008 2012 →

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 McCain   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%   80-90% Obama   40-50%   60-70%

President before election George W. Bush Republican Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

Elections in Kansas
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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.

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. Obama still performed significantly better than Kerry, and his 41.55% of the vote remains the highest for a Democrat in the 21st century, although his running mate, Biden, would reach almost that percentage 12 years later, with a slight improvement in margin of victory.

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

Caucuses[]

• 2008 Kansas Democratic caucuses
• 2008 Kansas Republican 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:

Source	Ranking
D.C. Political Report[1]	Likely R
Cook Political Report[2]	Solid R
The Takeaway[3]	Solid R
Electoral-vote.com[4]	Solid R
Washington Post[5]	Solid R
Politico[6]	Solid R
RealClearPolitics[7]	Solid R
FiveThirtyEight[5]	Solid R
CQ Politics[8]	Solid R
The New York Times[9]	Solid R
CNN[10]	Safe R
NPR[5]	Solid R
MSNBC[5]	Solid R
Fox News[11]	Likely R
Associated Press[12]	Likely R
Rasmussen Reports[13]	Safe R

Polling[]

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
Allen	37.36%	2,189	60.62%	3,552	2.01%	118	5,859
Anderson	32.40%	1,175	65.14%	2,362	2.45%	89	3,626
Atchison	45.07%	3,241	52.72%	3,791	2.21%	159	7,191
Barber	24.29%	598	74.45%	1,833	1.26%	31	2,462
Barton	27.38%	3,027	70.56%	7,802	2.06%	228	11,057
Bourbon	35.30%	2,394	62.53%	4,240	2.17%	147	6,781
Brown	30.10%	1,317	68.21%	2,985	1.69%	74	4,376
Butler	32.86%	9,159	65.13%	18,155	2.01%	559	27,873
Chase	27.67%	383	70.52%	976	1.81%	25	1,384
Chautauqua	21.65%	401	76.57%	1,418	1.78%	33	1,852
Cherokee	37.19%	3,594	60.90%	5,886	1.91%	185	9,665
Cheyenne	21.56%	323	76.64%	1,148	1.80%	27	1,498
Clark	21.14%	245	77.39%	897	1.47%	17	1,159
Clay	24.89%	1,009	73.95%	2,998	1.16%	47	4,054
Cloud	27.70%	1,233	70.12%	3,121	2.18%	97	4,451
Coffey	26.49%	1,121	72.16%	3,054	1.35%	57	4,232
Comanche	19.92%	194	78.54%	765	1.54%	15	974
Cowley	36.35%	5,012	61.59%	8,492	2.05%	283	13,787
Crawford	49.50%	7,957	48.12%	7,735	2.38%	383	16,075
Decatur	22.16%	343	76.81%	1,189	1.03%	16	1,548
Dickinson	27.95%	2,422	70.16%	6,081	1.89%	164	8,667
Doniphan	31.29%	1,115	66.55%	2,372	2.16%	77	3,564
Douglas	64.42%	34,398	33.58%	17,929	2.01%	1,071	53,398
Edwards	24.54%	333	73.32%	995	2.14%	29	1,357
Elk	25.31%	363	72.66%	1,042	2.02%	29	1,434
Ellis	32.22%	4,010	65.94%	8,207	1.85%	230	12,447
Ellsworth	28.97%	851	68.79%	2,021	2.25%	66	2,938
Finney	31.63%	3,275	66.89%	6,926	1.48%	153	10,354
Ford	33.74%	2,991	64.64%	5,730	1.61%	143	8,864
Franklin	37.76%	4,433	60.30%	7,079	1.93%	227	11,739
Geary	43.13%	3,491	55.50%	4,492	1.37%	111	8,094
Gove	18.41%	261	80.11%	1,136	1.48%	21	1,418
Graham	22.84%	325	74.49%	1,060	2.67%	38	1,423
Grant	23.86%	635	74.97%	1,995	1.16%	31	2,661
Gray	20.58%	436	77.54%	1,643	1.89%	40	2,119
Greeley	20.27%	151	79.33%	591	0.40%	3	745
Greenwood	27.29%	622	71.04%	1,619	1.67%	38	2,279
Hamilton	21.26%	233	77.01%	844	1.73%	19	1,096
Harper	26.32%	736	71.49%	1,999	2.18%	61	2,796
Harvey	40.47%	6,318	57.68%	9,006	1.85%	289	15,613
Haskell	17.71%	278	81.34%	1,277	0.96%	15	1,570
Hodgeman	19.25%	211	78.92%	865	1.82%	20	1,096
Jackson	36.91%	2,308	60.95%	3,811	2.14%	134	6,253
Jefferson	39.58%	3,542	58.32%	5,220	2.10%	188	8,950
Jewell	19.76%	313	77.71%	1,231	2.53%	40	1,584
Johnson	44.84%	127,091	53.85%	152,627	1.31%	3,714	283,432
Kearny	20.85%	309	78.21%	1,159	0.94%	14	1,482
Kingman	26.28%	963	71.04%	2,603	2.67%	98	3,664
Kiowa	17.62%	200	80.35%	912	2.03%	23	1,135
Labette	42.51%	3,839	55.38%	5,001	2.11%	191	9,031
Lane	18.79%	193	79.26%	814	1.95%	20	1,027
Leavenworth	43.33%	13,255	54.89%	16,791	1.78%	545	30,591
Lincoln	21.88%	347	75.91%	1,204	2.21%	35	1,586
Linn	30.86%	1,425	66.84%	3,086	2.30%	106	4,617
Logan	15.63%	225	82.43%	1,187	1.94%	28	1,440
Lyon	45.88%	5,924	51.88%	6,698	2.24%	289	12,911
Marion	29.72%	1,801	68.64%	4,159	1.63%	99	6,059
Marshall	35.42%	1,784	62.69%	3,157	1.89%	95	5,036
McPherson	31.51%	4,218	66.77%	8,937	1.72%	230	13,385
Meade	18.49%	357	79.75%	1,540	1.76%	34	1,931
Miami	37.34%	5,742	61.01%	9,382	1.65%	253	15,377
Mitchell	21.89%	701	76.18%	2,440	1.94%	62	3,203
Montgomery	31.19%	4,338	66.94%	9,309	1.87%	260	13,907
Morris	31.93%	907	66.00%	1,875	2.08%	59	2,841
Morton	16.33%	229	82.24%	1,153	1.43%	20	1,402
Nemaha	26.72%	1,432	71.23%	3,817	2.05%	110	5,359
Neosho	35.64%	2,563	62.19%	4,473	2.17%	156	7,192
Ness	18.95%	289	79.15%	1,207	1.90%	29	1,525
Norton	20.58%	497	77.76%	1,878	1.66%	40	2,415
Osage	33.59%	2,534	63.89%	4,820	2.52%	190	7,544
Osborne	20.88%	403	77.20%	1,490	1.92%	37	1,930
Ottawa	22.81%	704	75.28%	2,323	1.91%	59	3,086
Pawnee	30.64%	882	67.59%	1,946	1.77%	51	2,879
Phillips	19.69%	525	78.93%	2,105	1.39%	37	2,667
Pottawatomie	26.42%	2,599	70.44%	6,929	3.14%	309	9,837
Pratt	30.88%	1,294	67.35%	2,822	1.77%	74	4,190
Rawlins	17.62%	273	80.50%	1,247	1.87%	29	1,549
Reno	37.40%	9,916	60.77%	16,112	1.83%	484	26,512
Republic	23.96%	640	74.05%	1,978	1.98%	53	2,671
Rice	28.92%	1,163	69.14%	2,780	1.94%	78	4,021
Riley	45.64%	10,495	52.66%	12,111	1.70%	391	22,997
Rooks	18.08%	468	79.91%	2,068	2.01%	52	2,588
Rush	28.30%	504	68.78%	1,225	2.92%	52	1,781
Russell	22.35%	736	76.19%	2,509	1.46%	48	3,293
Saline	35.92%	8,186	62.16%	14,165	1.92%	437	22,788
Scott	14.73%	321	83.66%	1,823	1.61%	35	2,179
Sedgwick	42.72%	82,337	55.44%	106,849	1.83%	3,530	192,716
Seward	27.98%	1,493	71.05%	3,791	0.97%	52	5,336
Shawnee	48.99%	41,235	49.27%	41,476	1.74%	1,466	84,177
Sheridan	18.46%	254	80.52%	1,108	1.02%	14	1,376
Sherman	25.44%	688	72.45%	1,959	2.11%	57	2,704
Smith	20.24%	446	77.99%	1,719	1.77%	39	2,204
Stafford	26.13%	542	72.08%	1,495	1.78%	37	2,074
Stanton	22.73%	188	75.94%	628	1.33%	11	827
Stevens	13.31%	283	85.33%	1,815	1.36%	29	2,127
Sumner	32.44%	3,353	65.17%	6,737	2.39%	247	10,337
Thomas	21.43%	787	77.24%	2,837	1.33%	49	3,673
Trego	25.13%	420	73.31%	1,225	1.56%	26	1,671
Wabaunsee	29.42%	1,036	68.02%	2,395	2.56%	90	3,521
Wallace	11.94%	96	85.82%	690	2.24%	18	804
Washington	22.11%	659	75.44%	2,248	2.45%	73	2,980
Wichita	16.00%	163	82.43%	840	1.57%	16	1,019
Wilson	28.39%	1,170	69.16%	2,850	2.45%	101	4,121
Woodson	32.02%	512	65.98%	1,055	2.00%	32	1,599
Wyandotte	69.73%	39,865	28.87%	16,506	1.40%	798	57,169

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[]

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[]