Colonel William A. Phillips

The 2008 United States Senate election in Kansas was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Pat Roberts won re-election to a third term.

Background

The state of Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1932. Kansas's other Republican Senator Sam Brownback announced that he is retiring due to "self-imposed term limits," which meant Roberts became the senior senator from Kansas in 2011. It is considered one of the most Republican states in the U.S. The last time its electors went to a Democrat was the Presidential Election of 1964, when Lyndon Johnson carried the state over Barry Goldwater.

Roberts had announced ahead of the 1996 election that "I plan only to serve two terms in the U.S. Senate",^[1] but he broke that pledge in this election.

Republican primary

Candidates

Pat Roberts, incumbent U.S. Senator

Results

Republican Party primary results^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Pat Roberts (Incumbent)	214,911	100.00%
Total votes			214,911	100.00%

Democratic primary

Candidates

Jim Slattery, former U.S. Representative and nominee for Governor in 1994
Lee Jones, nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2004

Results

Democratic primary results^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jim Slattery	68,106	68.93%
	Democratic	Lee Jones	30,699	31.07%
Total votes			98,805	100.00%

General election

Candidates

Pat Roberts (R), incumbent U.S. Senator
Jim Slattery (D), former U.S. Representative
Randall Hodgkinson (L), attorney
Joseph L. Martin (Re), nominee for Secretary of State in 2006

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report^[3]	Safe R	October 23, 2008
CQ Politics^[4]	Likely R	October 31, 2008
Rothenberg Political Report^[5]	Safe R	November 2, 2008
Real Clear Politics^[6]	Safe R	November 4, 2008

Polling

Poll Source	Dates administered	Slattery	Roberts
Rasmussen Reports	May 13, 2008	40%	52%
Research 2000/Daily Kos	June 2–4, 2008	38%	50%
Cooper & Secrest	June 5–8, 2008	36%	48%
Rasmussen Reports	June 11, 2008	39%	48%
TargetPoint Consulting, Inc.	July 1, 2008	34%	54%
Rasmussen Reports	July 15, 2008	33%	61%
Rasmussen Reports	August 11, 2008	37%	56%
Survey USA	August 20, 2008	31%	58%
Survey USA	September 22, 2008	35%	55%
Rasmussen Reports	September 23, 2008	38%	58%
Rasmussen Reports	October 13, 2008	36%	55%
Survey USA	October 22, 2008	35%	57%
Survey USA	October 28, 2008	33%	60%

Results

General election results^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Pat Roberts (Incumbent)	727,121	60.06%	-22.46%
	Democratic	Jim Slattery	441,399	36.46%	+36.46%
	Libertarian	Randall Hodgkinson	25,727	2.12%	-6.98%
	Reform	Joseph L. Martin	16,443	1.36%	-7.02%
Majority			285,722	23.60%	-49.82%
Turnout			1,210,690
	Republican hold		Swing

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Douglas (Largest city: Lawrence)
Wyandotte (Largest city: Kansas City)
Atchison (Largest city: Atchison)

References

^ "Pat Roberts Said In 1996 He'd Only Serve Two Terms — He's Running For His Fourth". BuzzFeed. October 14, 2014. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
^ ^a ^b "Results" (PDF). www.kssos.org. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
^ "2008 Senate Race ratings for October 23, 2008". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
^ Race Ratings Chart: Senate Archived October 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine CQ Politics
^ "2008 Senate ratings". Inside Elections. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
^ "2008 RCP Averages & Senate Results". Real Clear Politics. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
^ "Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives". Clerk.house.gov. Retrieved May 9, 2021.

External links

Elections & Legislative from the Kansas Secretary of State
U.S. Congress candidates for Kansas at Project Vote Smart
Kansas, U.S. Senate CQ Politics
Kansas U.S. Senate from OurCampaigns.com
Kansas U.S. Senate race from 2008 Race Tracker
Campaign contributions from OpenSecrets
Roberts (R-i) vs Slattery (D) graph of multiple polls from Pollster.com
Official campaign websites (Archived)

[1] "Pat Roberts Said In 1996 He'd Only Serve Two Terms — He's Running For His Fourth". BuzzFeed. October 14, 2014. Retrieved October 15, 2014.

[kssos1-2] "Results" (PDF). www.kssos.org. Retrieved May 9, 2021.

[Cook_PR-3] "2008 Senate Race ratings for October 23, 2008". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved April 1, 2021.

[4] Race Ratings Chart: Senate Archived October 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine CQ Politics

[Inside_Elections-5] "2008 Senate ratings". Inside Elections. Retrieved April 1, 2021.

[6] "2008 RCP Averages & Senate Results". Real Clear Politics. Retrieved August 31, 2021.

[7] "Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives". Clerk.house.gov. Retrieved May 9, 2021.

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Background

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

General election

Candidates

Predictions

Polling

Results

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

See also

References

External links