United States presidential election in Kansas, 2008

The 2008 United States presidential election in Kansas took place on November 4, 2008 throughout all 50 states and D.C., which was part of the 2008 United States presidential election

United States presidential election, 2008

The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...

. Voters chose 6 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

and Vice President

Vice President of the United States

The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...

.

Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

was won by Republican nominee John McCain

John McCain

John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....

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.

Predictions

There were 17 news organizations who made state by state predictions of the election. Here are there last predictions before election day:

D.C. Political Report: Republican
Cook Political Report
Cook Political Report
The Cook Political Report is an independent, non-partisan online newsletter that analyzes elections and campaigns for the United States House of Representatives, the United States Senate, Governor's offices and the American Presidency. The Cook Political Report is led by a staff of five...

: Solid Republican
Takeaway: Solid McCain
Election Projection: Solid McCain
Electoral-vote.com
Electoral-vote.com
Electoral-Vote.com is the website of computer scientist Andrew S. Tanenbaum. The site's primary content is poll analysis to project the outcome of U.S. elections. The site also includes commentary on related news stories. Well known for its color-coded electoral map of the United States, the...

: Strong Republican
Washington Post: Solid McCain
Politico
Politico (newspaper)
The Politico is an American political journalism organization based in Arlington, Virginia, that distributes its content via television, the Internet, newspaper, and radio. Its coverage of Washington, D.C., includes the U.S. Congress, lobbying, media and the Presidency...

: Solid McCain
Real Clear Politics: Solid McCain
FiveThirtyEight.com
FiveThirtyEight.com
FiveThirtyEight is a polling aggregation website with a blog created by Nate Silver. Sometimes colloquially referred to as 538 dot com or just 538, the website takes its name from the number of electors in the United States electoral college...

: Solid McCain
CQ Politics: Safe Republican
New York Times: Solid Republican
CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...

: Safe Republican
NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...

: Solid Republican
MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...

: Solid McCain
Fox News: Republican
Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

: Republican
Rasmussen Reports
Rasmussen Reports
Rasmussen Reports is an American media company that publishes and distributes information based on public opinion polling. Founded by pollster Scott Rasmussen in 2003, the company updates daily indexes including the President's job approval rating, and provides public opinion data, analysis, and...

: Safe Republican

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.

Fundraising

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

Advertising and visits

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

Analysis

Kansas has always been a Republican stronghold at the presidential level. The last Democratic presidential nominee to carry the Sunflower State was Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...

in his landslide election in 1964

United States presidential election, 1964

The United States presidential election of 1964 was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had come to office less than a year earlier following the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy. Johnson, who had successfully associated himself with Kennedy's...

. A combination of rural

Rural

Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...

counties embedded with deep pockets of evangelical Christianity

Evangelicalism

Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...

/social conservatism and moderate, fiscally conservative residents in Johnson County

Johnson County, Kansas

Johnson County is a county located in northeast Kansas, in the central United States. The county is largely suburban, being part of the Kansas City metropolitan area, and containing many of its affluent southwestern suburbs. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 544,179. Its county...

, Kansas nearly always votes Republican. 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

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

who carried the state in 2004

United States presidential election, 2004

The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...

with 62% of the vote over John Kerry

John Kerry

John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...

's 36.62% showing in the state - a 10-point swing to the Democrats in 2008.

Obama only won three counties - Crawford

Crawford County, Kansas

Crawford County is a county located in southeastern Kansas in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 39,134. Its county seat is Girard, and its most populous city is Pittsburg. The county was named in honor of Samuel J. Crawford, Governor of Kansas...

(home to Pittsburg

Pittsburg, Kansas

Pittsburg is a city in Crawford County, in southeastern Kansas, United States. It is the most populous city in Crawford County and in southeastern Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 20,233.-History:...

), Douglas

Douglas County, Kansas

Douglas County is a county located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 110,826...

(home to Lawrence

Lawrence, Kansas

Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County...

), and Wyandotte

Wyandotte County, Kansas

Wyandotte County is a county located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. The county's population was 157,505 for the 2010 census. Its county seat and most populous city is Kansas City with which it shares a unified government...

(home to Kansas City

Kansas City, Kansas

Kansas City is the third-largest city in the state of Kansas and is the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the third largest city in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The city is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the "Unified...

). The first two were home to large college populations, while Wyandotte had a significant African-American population. He did, however, succeed in winning 41 percent 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

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

in 1976

United States presidential election, 1976

The United States presidential election of 1976 followed the resignation of President Richard Nixon in the wake of the Watergate scandal. It pitted incumbent President Gerald Ford, the Republican candidate, against the relatively unknown former governor of Georgia, Jimmy Carter, the Democratic...

and Michael Dukakis

Michael Dukakis

Michael Stanley Dukakis served as the 65th and 67th Governor of Massachusetts from 1975–1979 and from 1983–1991, and was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1988. He was born to Greek immigrants in Brookline, Massachusetts, also the birthplace of John F. Kennedy, and was the longest serving...

in 1988

United States presidential election, 1988

The United States presidential election of 1988 featured no incumbent president, as President Ronald Reagan was unable to seek re-election after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-second Amendment. Reagan's Vice President, George H. W. Bush, won the Republican nomination, while the...

).

To highlight its status as a reliably red state, former State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins

Lynn Jenkins

Lynn Jenkins is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2009. She is a member of the Republican Party. As of the 112th Congress, she is the senior member of Kansas' House delegation...

, a Republican, ousted incumbent Democratic U.S. Representative Nancy Boyda

Nancy Boyda

Nancy Boyda is a former Democratic congresswoman representing .On November 4, 2008, Boyda was defeated for re-election by Kansas State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins, after serving one term....

to win back Kansas's 2nd Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

. Jenkins received 50.80% of the vote to Boyda's 45.97%. At the same time, incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Pat Roberts

Pat Roberts

Charles Patrick "Pat" Roberts is the senior United States Senator from Kansas. A member of the Republican Party, he has served since 1997...

was reelected with 60.06% of the vote over former Democratic U.S. Representative Jim Slattery

Jim Slattery

James Charles Slattery is an American politician and was the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senator from Kansas.- Early life and career :...

. Republicans also made gains in the Kansas Senate

Kansas Senate

The Kansas Senate is the upper house of the Kansas Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. State of Kansas. It is composed of 40 Senators representing an equal amount of districts, each with a population of at least 60,000 inhabitants. Members of the Senate are elected to a four year term....

, picking up one seat.

Results

United States presidential election in Kansas, 2008
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican Republican Party (United States) The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...	John McCain John McCain John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....	Sarah Palin Sarah Palin Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...	699,655	56.50%	6
	Democratic Democratic Party (United States) The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...	Barack Obama Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...	Joe Biden Joe Biden Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...	514,765	41.57%	0
	Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...	Ralph Nader Ralph Nader Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....	Matt Gonzalez Matt Gonzalez Matthew Edward Gonzalez is an American politician, lawyer, and activist prominent in San Francisco politics. He currently serves as chief attorney in the San Francisco Public Defender's office....	10,527	0.85%	0
	Libertarian Libertarian Party (United States) The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...	Bob Barr Bob Barr Robert Laurence "Bob" Barr, Jr. is a former federal prosecutorand a former member of the United States House of Representatives. He represented Georgia's 7th congressional district as a Republican from 1995 to 2003. Barr attained national prominence as one of the leaders of the impeachment of...	Wayne Allyn Root Wayne Allyn Root Wayne Allyn Root is an American politician, entrepreneur, television and radio personality, author and political commentator. He was the 2008 Libertarian Party vice-presidential nominee. In June 2009 Richard Winger wrote he was the front runner for the 2012 Libertarian Presidential nomination...	6,706	0.54%	0
	Reform Reform Party of the United States of America The Reform Party of the United States of America is a political party in the United States, founded in 1995 by Ross Perot...	Chuck Baldwin Chuck Baldwin Charles Obadiah "Chuck" Baldwin is an American politician and founder-pastor of Crossroad Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida. He was the presidential nominee of the Constitution Party for the 2008 U.S. presidential election and had previously been its nominee for U.S. vice president in 2004...	Darrell Castle Darrell Castle Darrell Castle is an American political figure, activist and attorney from Memphis, Tennessee, and was the vice presidential candidate of the Constitution Party in the 2008 United States presidential election.-Early life and education:...	4,148	0.33%	0
	Green Green Party (United States) The Green Party of the United States is a nationally recognized political party which officially formed in 1991. It is a voluntary association of state green parties. Prior to national formation, many state affiliates had already formed and were recognized by other state parties...	Cynthia McKinney Cynthia McKinney Cynthia Ann McKinney is a former US Congresswoman and a member of the Green Party since 2007. As a member of the Democratic Party, she served six terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives. In 2008, the Green Party nominated McKinney for President of the United States... (write-in Write-in candidate A write-in candidate is a candidate in an election whose name does not appear on the ballot, but for whom voters may vote nonetheless by writing in the person's name. Some states and local jurisdictions allow a voter to affix a sticker with a write-in candidate's name on it to the ballot in lieu... )	Rosa Clemente Rosa Clemente Rosa Alicia Clemente is a United States community organizer, independent journalist and hip-hop activist. She was the vice presidential running mate of 2008 Green Party Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election.Clemente was born and raised in South Bronx, New...	35	0.00%	0
Totals				1,238,416	100.00%	6
Voter turnout (Voting age population)						60.8%

By county

COUNTY	Obama#	Obama%	McCain#	McCain%
ALLEN	2,189	37.39%	3,552	60.67%
ANDERSON	1,175	32.40%	2,362	65.14%
ATCHISON	3,241	45.07%	3,791	52.72%
BARBER	598	24.29%	1,833	74.45%
BARTON	3,027	27.38%	7,802	70.56%
BOURBON	2,394	35.30%	4,240	62.53%
BROWN	1,317	30.10%	2,985	68.21%
BUTLER	9,159	32.86%	18,155	65.13%
CHASE	383	27.67%	976	70.52%
CHAUTAUQUA	401	21.65%	1,418	76.57%
CHEROKEE	3,594	37.19%	5,886	60.90%
CHEYENNE	323	21.56%	1,148	76.64%
CLARK	245	21.14%	897	77.39%
CLAY	1,009	24.89%	2,998	73.95%
CLOUD	1,233	27.70%	3,121	70.12%
COFFEY	1,121	26.49%	3,054	72.16%
COMANCHE	194	19.92%	765	78.54%
COWLEY	5,012	36.35%	8,492	61.59%
CRAWFORD	7,957	49.50%	7,735	48.12%
DECATUR	343	22.16%	1,189	76.81%
DICKINSON	2,422	27.95%	6,081	70.16%
DONIPHAN	1,115	31.29%	2,372	66.55%
DOUGLAS	34,398	64.42%	17,929	33.58%
EDWARDS	333	24.54%	995	73.32%
ELK	363	25.31%	1,042	72.66%
ELLIS	4,010	32.22%	8,207	65.94%
ELLSWORTH	851	28.97%	2,021	68.79%
FINNEY	3,275	31.63%	6,926	66.89%
FORD	2,991	33.74%	5,730	64.64%
FRANKLIN	4,433	37.76%	7,079	60.30%
GEARY	3,491	43.13%	4,492	55.50%
GOVE	261	18.41%	1,136	80.11%
GRAHAM	325	22.84%	1,060	74.49%
GRANT	635	23.86%	1,995	74.97%
GRAY	436	20.58%	1,643	77.54%
GREELEY	151	20.27%	591	79.33%
GREENWOOD	622	27.29%	1,619	71.04%
HAMILTON	233	21.26%	844	77.01%
HARPER	736	26.32%	1,999	71.49%
HARVEY	6,318	40.47%	9,006	57.68%
HASKELL	278	17.71%	1,277	81.34%
HODGEMAN	211	19.25%	865	78.92%
JACKSON	2,308	36.91%	3,811	60.95%
JEFFERSON	3,542	39.58%	5,220	58.32%
JEWELL	313	19.76%	1,231	77.71%
JOHNSON	127,091	44.84%	152,627	53.85%
KEARNY	309	20.85%	1,159	78.21%
KINGMAN	963	26.28%	2,603	71.04%
KIOWA	200	17.62%	912	80.35%
LABETTE	3,839	42.51%	5,001	55.38%
LANE	193	18.79%	814	79.26%
LEAVENWORTH	13,255	43.33%	16,791	54.89%
LINCOLN	347	21.88%	1,204	75.91%
LINN	1,425	30.86%	3,086	66.84%
LOGAN	225	15.63%	1,187	82.43%
LYON	5,924	45.88%	6,698	51.88%
MARION	1,801	29.72%	4,159	68.64%
MARSHALL	1,784	35.42%	3,157	62.69%
MCPHERSON	4,218	31.51%	8,937	66.76%
MEADE	357	18.49%	1,540	79.75%
MITCHELL	701	21.89%	2,440	76.18%
MONTGOMERY	4,338	31.19%	9,309	66.94%
MORRIS	907	31.93%	1,875	66.00%
MORTON	229	16.33%	1,153	82.24%
NEMAHA	1,432	26.72%	3,817	71.23%
NEOSHO	2,563	35.64%	4,473	62.19%
NESS	289	18.95%	1,207	79.15%
NORTON	497	20.58%	1,878	77.76%
OSAGE	2,534	33.59%	4,820	63.89%
OSBORNE	403	20.88%	1,490	77.20%
OTTAWA	704	22.81%	2,323	75.28%
PAWNEE	882	30.64%	1,946	67.59%
PHILLIPS	525	19.69%	2,105	78.93%
POTTAWATOMIE	2,599	26.42%	6,929	70.44%
PRATT	1,294	30.88%	2,822	67.35%
RAWLINS	273	17.62%	1,247	80.50%
RENO	9,916	37.40%	16,112	60.77%
REPUBLIC	640	23.96%	1,978	74.05%
RICE	1,163	28.92%	2,780	69.14%
RILEY	10,495	45.64%	12,111	52.66%
ROOKS	468	18.08%	2,068	79.91%
RUSH	504	28.30%	1,225	68.78%
RUSSELL	736	22.35%	2,509	76.19%
SALINE	8,186	35.92%	14,165	62.16%
SCOTT	321	14.73%	1,823	83.66%
SEDGWICK	82,337	42.72%	106,849	55.44%
SEWARD	1,493	27.98%	3,791	71.05%
SHAWNEE	41,235	48.99%	41,476	49.27%
SHERIDAN	254	18.46%	1,108	80.52%
SHERMAN	688	25.44%	1,959	72.45%
SMITH	446	20.24%	1,719	77.99%
STAFFORD	542	26.13%	1,495	72.08%
STANTON	188	22.73%	628	75.94%
STEVENS	283	13.31%	1,815	85.33%
SUMNER	3,353	32.44%	6,737	65.17%
THOMAS	787	21.43%	2,837	77.24%
TREGO	420	25.13%	1,225	73.31%
WABAUNSEE	1,036	29.42%	2,395	68.02%
WALLACE	96	11.94%	690	85.82%
WASHINGTON	659	22.11%	2,248	75.44%
WICHITA	163	16.00%	840	82.43%
WILSON	1,170	28.39%	2,850	69.16%
WOODSON	512	32.02%	1,055	65.98%
WYANDOTTE	39,865	69.73%	16,506	28.87%

By congressional district

John McCain carried three of the state’s four congressional districts, all held by Republicans.

McCain	Obama	Representative
68.60%	29.61%	Jerry Moran Jerry Moran Jerry Moran is the junior U.S. Senator from Kansas and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, he served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing ....
54.87%	43.20%	Nancy Boyda Nancy Boyda Nancy Boyda is a former Democratic congresswoman representing .On November 4, 2008, Boyda was defeated for re-election by Kansas State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins, after serving one term.... (110th Congress 110th United States Congress The One Hundred Tenth United States Congress was the meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, between January 3, 2007, and January 3, 2009, during the last two years of the second term of President George W. Bush. It was composed of the Senate and the House of... )
54.87%	43.20%	Lynn Jenkins Lynn Jenkins Lynn Jenkins is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2009. She is a member of the Republican Party. As of the 112th Congress, she is the senior member of Kansas' House delegation... (111th Congress 111th United States Congress The One Hundred Eleventh United States Congress was the meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government from January 3, 2009 until January 3, 2011. It began during the last two weeks of the George W. Bush administration, with the remainder spanning the first two years of... )
48.01%	50.59%	Dennis Moore Dennis Moore Dennis Moore is a former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1999 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party...
58.38%	39.72%	Todd Tiahrt Todd Tiahrt Todd Tiahrt is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1995 until 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district encompasses 11 counties in the south central region of the state, including the city of Wichita. He was succeeded by Republican Mike Pompeo.Tiahrt ran...

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. An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector

Faithless elector

In United States presidential elections, a faithless elector is a member of the Electoral College who does not vote for the candidate they have pledged to vote for...

.

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