Trump tweets endorsement of Kobach in Kansas governor’s race

photo by: Associated Press

President-elect Donald Trump greets Kansas Secretary of State, Kris Kobach, as he arrives at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster clubhouse, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016, in Bedminster, N.J. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

TOPEKA – One day ahead of the Republican primaries in Kansas, President Donald Trump endorsed Secretary of State Kris Kobach in his bid for the GOP nomination for governor.

Trump announced his endorsement in a tweet shortly before 11 a.m. Monday.

“Kris Kobach, a strong and early supporter of mine, is running for Governor of the Great State of Kansas,” the president wrote. “He is a fantastic guy who loves his State and our Country – he will be a GREAT Governor and has my full & total Endorsement! Strong on Crime, Border & Military. VOTE TUESDAY!”

Kobach was the first major Republican in Kansas to endorse Trump in the 2016 presidential caucuses in Kansas. Trump finished a distant second in that race behind Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, but he went on to win the nomination anyway.

Kobach has served as an informal adviser to the president on immigration issues, and in 2017, Trump named Kobach vice chair of a short-lived Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, which was formed to look into unsubstantiated claims of widespread voting by noncitizens in the 2016 elections.

Last week, Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, a Democrat who also served on the commission, said the panel found no evidence to support that claim and that the commission was in search of a “preordained outcome.”

Kobach is running in a hotly contested primary that also features incumbent Gov. Jeff Colyer, former state Sen. Jim Barnett and Insurance Commissioner Ken Selzer, along with three lesser-known candidates.

Two Trump administration officials had told the Associated Press in July that the president had been inclined to endorse Kobach ahead of the primary. But aides have warned the president that it would alienate Republicans loyal to Colyer, who succeeded Sam Brownback when Trump selected him for a diplomatic post.

The officials said the president had been on the verge of tweeting out an endorsement of Kobach last spring, but his staff intervened, warning of the repercussions. They warned that Kobach’s hawkish immigration views may make him the weaker candidate in this fall’s general election, potentially setting up a prime opportunity for Democrats in the state. The officials believed they had prevailed on Trump to stay out of the race.

Still, Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, visited the Kansas City area in November and Wichita in July to hold fundraisers for Kobach.

An incumbent Kansas governor has lost a primary only twice since the state began holding such elections 110 years ago, the last time in 1956.

Colyer has portrayed himself as a conservative who can build consensus to govern, and he’s repeatedly expressed support for Trump, even joining other Republican governors earlier this year in suggesting Trump receive the Nobel Peace Prize. But Kobach has run as a no-apologies conservative who revels in the criticism he provokes on the left.

“We respect the Trump family’s loyalty, but as Bob Dole made clear in his endorsement of the governor — Dr. Colyer is the best candidate to win tomorrow and is the only candidate who can defeat the Democrats in the Fall,” said Colyer spokesman Kendall Marr.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.