Kris Kobach

Kris William Kobach ( KOH-bahk; born March 26, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the attorney general of Kansas since 2023. He previously served as the 31st secretary of state of Kansas from 2011 to 2019. Kobach rose to national prominence as a hardliner on immigration, including his involvement in implementing high-profile ordinances targeting illegal immigration in various American cities. Raised in Topeka, Kansas, he earned degrees from Harvard University, the University of Oxford, and Yale Law School before working as a law professor and serving in the U.S. Department of Justice. After an unsuccessful congressional campaign in 2004, Kobach was later elected chairman of the Kansas Republican Party in 2007, serving until January 2009. He was elected secretary of state in 2010, and re-elected in 2014. He was a candidate for governor of Kansas in 2018, defeating Jeff Colyer – who had recently become governor after Sam Brownback's resignation – in a close Republican primary, but losing in the November general election to Democrat Laura Kelly 48.01%–42.98%–6.50% in a three-way race with independent candidate Greg Orman. He later ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2020, placing second in the Republican primary. He returned to elected office after being elected Attorney General of Kansas in 2022.