At about 11 p.m., Democrat Paul Davis took the floor at his watch party and gave his concession speech. Just moments before, he had called Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, to congratulate him on his second term.

Davis, an LHS graduate, fell short of the conservative incumbent, trailing by 3 percentage points. Despite the loss, Davis spoke in front of the crowd of cheering supporters.

“This campaign was never really about us,” Davis said in his speech. “It was always about Kansas. It was about our families, it was about our futures, our kids.

“It was about our young people, our high school graduates that can’t access higher education because of the years of skyrocketing tuition,” he continued. “It was about workers that wanted nothing more than waking up every morning, feeding your family and having that sense of accomplishment. It was about Kansas seniors, not getting the quality healthcare they were promised.”

Davis, although disappointed, concluded that the state will go on and that Kansans had their work cut out for them despite the disagreements the election highlighted.

“We have very real challenges to face as a state and the only way we can overcome these challenges is together,” he said.

Davis’ loss came on a night when Republicans swept major offices. Among them were Pat Roberts winning with 53 percent for U.S. Senate; Lynn Jenkins with 57 percent for Congress; and Kris Kobach with 59 percent for Kansas Secretary of State.

Pre-election day polls had projected some of those races as much closer than the final tally bore out, drawing national attention. In the end, liberal and moderate optimism could not overcome the conservative politcal climate.