Biography
Kris Kobach is Kansas's Republican Attorney General, seeking a second term. He served as Kansas Secretary of State from 2011 to 2019 and has been Attorney General since 2023; his campaign emphasizes lower crime rates, a fentanyl task force, and lawsuits against federal policy.[1][2][3]
Kobach was raised in Topeka and graduated from Washburn Rural High School.[4][2] He graduated from Harvard University in government, first in his department and summa cum laude, received a Ph.D. in politics from the University of Oxford as a Marshall Scholar, and earned a J.D. from Yale Law School.[4][2]
He clerked for the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and then became a professor of constitutional law at the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law.[4][2] He was a White House Fellow under President George W. Bush and served in the U.S. Department of Justice as Counsel to Attorney General John Ashcroft.[4]
Kobach was the 31st Kansas Secretary of State, serving from 2011 to 2019.[4][2] He ran for governor in 2018 and lost to Laura Kelly.[2] Before becoming attorney general, he brought three federal lawsuits against the Biden administration: over vaccine mandates, over limits on immigration detention and deportation by ICE agents and sheriffs, and over the Air Force's expulsion of pilots at McConnell Air Force Base.[4]
Kobach became the state's 45th Attorney General in 2023, and in October 2024 he was affirmed as chairman of the Republican Attorneys General Association.[4][3] He lives near Lecompton with his wife, Heather, and their five children.[4]
- 1.Kansas Attorney General election, 2026 · Ballotpedia · 2026-10-19 Reference
- 2.Kris Kobach · Ballotpedia Reference
- 3.Kris Kobach for Attorney General · Kobach campaign Candidate's own words
- 4.Meet Kris · Kobach for Attorney General campaign · 2026-10-19 Candidate's own words
Researched from the cited sources on 2026-10-21.
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