2018 Kansas gubernatorial election

The 2018 Kansas gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the next governor of Kansas.

On July 26, 2017, Governor Sam Brownback was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 24, 2018; he resigned the governorship on January 31 and was succeeded by Lieutenant Governor Jeff Colyer. Colyer was eligible to seek a full term and announced his candidacy prior to becoming Governor of Kansas. In the August 7 primary, Colyer ran against CPA and incumbent Insurance Commissioner Ken Selzer, Topeka doctor and 2006 Republican Kansas gubernatorial nominee Jim Barnett, and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

On August 7, 2018, Kobach defeated Colyer in the Republican gubernatorial primary by an initial margin of 191 votes, a lead that increased to 361 votes by August 14, although discrepancies in some counties needed resolution and provisional and absentee ballots may not have been counted in some counties. Colyer conceded the Republican nomination after the final votes were tallied, in which Kobach's margin grew slightly. State Senator Laura Kelly easily won the Democratic nomination and won the general election, assuming office on January 14, 2019. Businessman Greg Orman, who finished second as an independent in the 2014 U.S. Senate race against incumbent Republican Pat Roberts, ran for governor as an independent candidate.

As, aside from a two-term limit for incumbents, the Constitution of Kansas places no limitations of any kind on who may seek the office, several teenagers (including one who had never been to the state), filed to run for governor, drawing media attention. A debate took place on September 5 between the three candidates that consistently polled above 5%. Polls in late August had Kelly and Kobach running close with Orman polling in the single digits.

Kelly's win continued a streak of party turnover for governor of Kansas, as Kansas has not elected two consecutive governors of the same party since William Avery succeeded fellow Republican John Anderson Jr. following the 1964 election, and neither major party has held the governorship for longer than eight consecutive years since Republican John McCuish left office in 1957. Kobach would later unsuccessfully run in the 2020 Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Kansas, before successfully running for Kansas Attorney General in 2022.