Ann Mah’s poll watchers predicted the outcome long before the votes were tallied Tuesday.

Her win, they said, would be a landslide.

“I felt good the whole time,” Mah said from the state Democratic watch party at the Ramada Inn Downtown hotel in Topeka.

The freshman representative in the Kansas House will be back for a second term after winning the race for the 53rd District by more than 2,000 votes.

The district includes eastern Shawnee County and part of western Douglas County.

Mah, of Topeka, defeated her Republican challenger, Doug Desch, 64 percent to 35 percent. With all but one precinct reporting in Shawnee County, 5,863 voters chose Mah versus 3,203 for Desch.

Thomas Abbey Lessman, the Libertarian candidate, received about 1 percent of the vote.

Desch said he had no regrets and hoped Mah would work to hold down spending during her next term.

“I wish I could have been the victor, but I’m not,” Desch said. “You do what you can leading up to the election, but it’s left up to the public. And tonight wasn’t a good night.”