Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has defeated his primary opponent: the state’s sitting governor. | Steve Pope/Getty Images Kansas governor concedes defeat to Trump-backed Kobach

Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer conceded defeat to Trump-backed Secretary of State Kris Kobach in their Republican gubernatorial primary Tuesday, after a week of vote-counting in the close race.

“This election is probably the closest in America,” Colyer said in brief remarks Tuesday evening. “But the numbers are just not there, unless we were to go to extraordinary measures. But Kansas is too important.”


Kobach stretched his narrow primary lead to 345 votes as late ballots were tallied for a week after the August 7 primary.

Colyer pledged to not challenge the results in court or ask for a recount. He endorsed Kobach during his remarks.

“I just had a conversation with the secretary of state, and I congratulated him on his success,” Colyer said. “And I repeated my determination to keep this seat in Republican hands.”

Kobach will face Democrat Laura Kelly in November.

President Donald Trump had waded into the race late, endorsing Kobach the day before the primary. “Kris Kobach, a strong and early supporter of mine, is running for Governor of the Great State of Kansas,” the president tweeted on Aug. 6, the day before the primary. “He is a fantastic guy who loves his State and our Country.”

Colyer, the former lieutenant governor, was running for a first full term after taking over from unpopular ex-Gov. Sam Brownback, who took a job in the Trump administration.

But Trump and Kobach have a long political history, though Trump's endorsement still came as as surprise to some aides who had advised him not to meddle in the Kansas primary. Kobach backed Trump in the 2016 presidential primaries, while many of the state’s other Republican elected officials instead opted to back Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Kobach served as the vice chair of the president’s commission to investigate voter fraud, which failed to turn up any evidence backing up the president’s claim that millions voted illegally in the 2016 election.