By Michael Glenn
Republican Challenger for the 102nd House District Kyler Sweely defeated Rep. Jason Probst for the district’s seat Tuesday evening in the Nov. 5 general election.
With 28 out of 28 precincts reporting for the 102nd as of 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sweely will be the district’s first Republican legislator since Jan Pauls switched political affiliations from Democrat to Republican in 2014.
The 102nd saw a turnout rate of 47.16%, lower than the county average of 61.23%.
Rep. Paul Waggoner retained his 104th district legislative seat by a 26-point margin in Reno County, defeating Democratic Challenger Lynnette Krieger-Zook with 6,914 votes to Krieger-Zook’s 4,034 votes, respectively.
At the writing of this story, McPherson County had not finished reporting precincts which are located in the 104th district.
The turnout for the 104th district was 68.87%.
The two other legislative house candidates in Reno County, Rep. Joe Seiwert and Kevin Schwertfeger, ran unopposed as Republicans. Seiwert serves as the 101st district representative and Schwertfeger as the 114th district representative.
For Kansas Senate District 34, Republican Michael Murphy defeated Democrat Shanna Henry in a 69% – 31% margin in Reno County. The senate district which encompasses all of the county also covers Kingman and Barber Counties.
Murphy will take Sen. Mark Steffen’s seat, who decided not to run for re-election after winning in 2020.
On the county level, Republican Ron Vincent defeated Democrat Garth Strand in the Reno County Commission District 3 race. Vincent garnered 4,025 votes with Strand receiving 2,161 votes. Vincent will replace current Commissioner Daniel Friesen.
Republican Richard Winger defeated Democrat Lindsey Hatfield in a 276 vote margin for the Reno County Commission District 4 race. Winger received 2,170 votes and Hatfield received 1,894 votes. The fourth commission district is the only district to be completely located within Hutchinson city limits.
Commissioner Ron Hirst won the Reno County Commission District 2 race unopposed.
