LAWRENCE, Kansas — The candidates running against Kris Kobach in the August primary for attorney general argue that it’s the Republicans’ race to lose — and that only he could lose it.
Yet the former Kansas secretary of state and cable news show regular comes to the race as perhaps the best-known conservative in the state, riding a reputation that energizes Republican die-hards and leaves no mystery about what he’d do in office: battle Democrats on voter fraud, on immigration and on anything else that President Joe Biden touches.
The primary tests whether a state senator backed by the party’s conservative establishment, Kelie Warren, or a former federal prosecutor with decades of experience, Tony Mattivi, can overcome the well-established Kobach brand.
That trademark style includes a relentless focus on hot-button national issues and the federal government as nemesis.
Kobach said during a recent debate…
