Kris Kobach facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kris Kobach
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Kobach in 2021
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| 45th Attorney General of Kansas | |
| Assumed office January 9, 2023 |
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| Governor | Laura Kelly |
| Preceded by | Derek Schmidt |
| 31st Secretary of State of Kansas | |
| In office January 10, 2011 – January 14, 2019 |
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| Governor | Sam Brownback Jeff Colyer |
| Preceded by | Chris Biggs |
| Succeeded by | Scott Schwab |
| 64th Chair of the Kansas Republican Party | |
| In office January 28, 2007 – January 31, 2009 |
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| Preceded by | Tim Shallenburger |
| Succeeded by | Amanda Adkins |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Kris William Kobach
March 26, 1966 Madison, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouses |
Heather Mannschreck
(m. 2001) |
| Children | 5 |
| Education | Harvard University (AB) Brasenose College, Oxford (MPhil, DPhil) Yale University (JD) |
| Signature |  |
Kris William Kobach (born March 26, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician. He currently serves as the Attorney General of Kansas, a role he started in 2023. Before this, he was the 31st Secretary of State of Kansas from 2011 to 2019.
Kobach is a member of the Republican Party. He became well-known for his strong views on immigration. He helped create and support laws aimed at controlling immigration in different U.S. cities.
He began his political journey on the City Council of Overland Park, Kansas. He later ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004 but did not win. In 2010, he was elected as Kansas Secretary of State. In this role, he introduced some of the strictest voter identification laws in the country. He also worked to remove many voters from state lists, often claiming there was widespread election fraud.
Kobach ran for Governor of Kansas in 2018 but lost to Democrat Laura Kelly. He also ran for a U.S. Senate seat in 2020 but was defeated in the primary election. In 2022, he successfully ran for Kansas Attorney General, winning the election on November 8, 2022.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Kris Kobach was born in Madison, Wisconsin, on March 26, 1966. When he was seven, his family moved to Topeka, Kansas. His father owned a car dealership where Kris worked during high school. He graduated from Washburn Rural High School in 1984 as a top student.
He studied Government at Harvard University and graduated with high honors. He then earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in politics from Oxford University in England. After that, he received a law degree from Yale Law School in 1995. While at Yale, he helped edit the Yale Law Journal. He also wrote two books during this time.
Legal Career and Public Service
After law school, Kobach worked for a federal judge in Kansas. He then became a law professor at the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law. In 2001, he received a special fellowship to work for the U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.
After the September 11 attacks, Kobach helped create a system to track visitors from certain countries for national security. He also helped change how immigration appeals were handled. After his time in government, he returned to teaching law until he was elected Kansas Secretary of State.
Views on Immigration
Kobach gained national attention for his strong views on immigration. He has been involved in many efforts to create and defend strict immigration laws.
Supporting Immigration Laws
Kobach has worked as a lawyer to defend cities and states that passed laws to discourage people from living in the U.S. without proper documents. For example, he defended Valley Park, Missouri, which had a law requiring businesses to use a federal system called E-Verify to check if workers could legally work in the U.S. This law was upheld in court.
He also defended Hazleton, Pennsylvania, and Farmers Branch, Texas, which passed laws to prevent people without proper documents from being employed or renting homes. These laws faced many legal challenges and were often struck down by courts.
Arizona and Alabama Laws
Kobach played a key role in writing Arizona SB 1070, a state law that was one of the strictest immigration measures in the country. This law allowed police to check a person's immigration status during stops. While some parts of the law were challenged in court, one part requiring status checks was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
He also helped write Alabama HB 56, another tough immigration law. Many parts of this law were later changed or removed after legal challenges.
Border Security Ideas
Kobach has supported efforts to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. He visited demonstrations of how a border fence could be built quickly.
In 2018, he joined a group called We Build The Wall Inc. This group aimed to raise private money to build parts of the border wall. The group raised millions of dollars, and some sections of the wall were built on private land. However, there were questions about how the money was managed.
Political Career
Early Steps in Politics
In 1999, Kobach won a seat on the Overland Park City Council. After the 9/11 attacks, he helped create a program that required men from certain countries to be fingerprinted, photographed, and questioned at government offices.
He ran for Congress in 2004, representing Kansas's 3rd District. He lost that election but gained national attention for his views on immigration. He even spoke at the 2004 Republican National Convention, calling for the military to help secure the Mexican border.
Leading the Kansas Republican Party
From 2007 to 2009, Kobach was the chairman of the Kansas Republican Party. During his time, he made changes to how the party ran elections and raised money.
Kansas Secretary of State
In 2010, Kobach ran for and won the election to become Secretary of State of Kansas. He defeated the Democratic incumbent, Chris Biggs.
As Secretary of State, Kobach was a strong supporter of strict voter ID laws in the United States. He believed these laws were needed to prevent voter fraud. The "SAFE" Act, signed in 2011, required new voters to prove U.S. citizenship when registering. It also required voters to show photo identification when voting in person.
Many groups, like the League of Women Voters, challenged these laws in court. They argued that the laws made it harder for some people to vote. A federal judge later ruled that the proof of citizenship requirement was unconstitutional and ordered Kobach to register thousands of voters who had been held back by the law. The judge noted there was very little evidence of non-citizens voting in Kansas.
Voter Fraud Claims
Kobach has often claimed that voter fraud is a big problem in the U.S. He said that thousands of non-citizens were registered to vote in Kansas, but critics and experts said these claims were misleading. He also supported claims that millions of non-citizens voted in the 2016 presidential election, a claim that was widely disproven.
In 2015, Kobach gained the power to prosecute voter fraud cases in Kansas. He filed several cases, mostly involving people who voted in more than one state. Critics argued that these cases were rare and that the laws he championed would not have prevented them.
Crosscheck Program
As Secretary of State, Kobach oversaw the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program. This program compared voter records from different states to find people who might be registered in more than one place. The program grew to include many states.
However, the program was criticized for being inaccurate. It often created "false matches" because it only used a person's first name, last name, and date of birth. This meant that many legitimate voters could be wrongly flagged. Concerns about the program's accuracy and the security of voter data led several states to leave the program. It was later suspended.
Presidential Commission on Election Integrity
In 2017, President Donald Trump appointed Kobach as vice-chairman of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. This commission was created to investigate claims of voter fraud.
Kobach asked election officials in every state to send voter data, including names, birth dates, and parts of Social Security numbers. Many states, including some led by Republicans, refused to provide the data. They said their state laws protected voter privacy and that the commission's claims of widespread fraud were not proven. The commission was later disbanded in 2018 without releasing a report.
Running for Governor in 2018
In 2017, Kobach announced he would run for Governor of Kansas. He won the Republican primary election by a very small number of votes.
In the general election, he faced Democratic state senator Laura Kelly. Many prominent Republicans in Kansas, including former governors, endorsed Laura Kelly instead of Kobach. They felt her experience was better for the state. Laura Kelly won the election, defeating Kobach.
Running for U.S. Senate in 2020
In 2019, Kobach announced he would run for a U.S. Senate seat in Kansas. However, he lost the Republican primary election to Roger Marshall.
Kansas Attorney General Election 2022
In 2022, Kobach ran for Kansas Attorney General. He won the Republican primary against two other candidates. In the general election, he faced Democrat Chris Mann. Kobach was narrowly elected as Attorney General on November 8, 2022.
As Attorney General
In 2024, Kobach took legal action against the Biden administration's plan to replace lead water pipes across the country. He argued that the benefits of replacing these pipes might not be clear. However, lead is known to be harmful, especially to children, causing serious health problems like brain damage.
Political Views
Kobach is known for his strong views on immigration. He believes in limiting the number of immigrants allowed into the U.S. each year.
He is also a strong supporter of gun rights. He believes that people as young as 18 should be able to carry concealed guns. He also thinks that school teachers and staff should be allowed to carry guns for safety. Kobach is against stricter gun control laws. He often speaks about the importance of states' rights, meaning states should have more power compared to the federal government.
He has also been criticized for saying he would not work to protect LGBTQ workers in Kansas.
Views on Barack Obama's Citizenship
Kobach repeatedly questioned whether former President Barack Obama was born in the United States. He asked Obama to release his "long-form" birth certificate, even after Obama had released a certificate. Kobach maintained that questioning Obama's citizenship was a fair thing to do. After Hawaii officials confirmed Obama's birth certificate was real, Kobach accepted it.
Personal Life
Kris Kobach was born in Wisconsin and moved to Topeka, Kansas, when he was seven. His family has Polish and Norwegian roots.
He married Heather Mannschreck in 2001. They have five daughters, who are homeschooled. The family lives on a farm near Lecompton, Kansas.
Kobach has been involved in volunteer work, including missionary work in Uganda and helping build a school in South Africa. He was also a national rowing champion and an Eagle Scout.
Images for kids
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Kris Kobach in 2021.
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Signature of Kris Kobach.
