共和国の／共和党の Kris Kobach 目的（とする）s to rebrand in Kansas AG race
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Kris Kobach, the Kansan with a 国家の 評判 as a 強行路線 provocateur on 移民／移住 and 投票者 ID 法律s, is trying to rebrand himself as a calmer, steadier 発言する／表明する in his 復帰 企て，努力，提案 for elective office.
共和国の／共和党のs hope the 候補者 for Kansas 弁護士／代理人／検事 general is a "new" Kobach. Many of them say he's staying more on message with a better 組織するd （選挙などの）運動をする after losing the 2018 race for Kansas 知事 and a 2020 U.S. 上院 最初の／主要な. Both of those losses were chalked up to disorganized （選挙などの）運動をするs and Kobach 存在 too abrasive even for very 共和国の／共和党の Kansas 投票者s.
The former Kansas 長官 of 明言する／公表する built a 国家の profile - and created 継続している political 敵s - as the go-to 助言者 for 明言する／公表する and 地元の 公式の／役人s wanting to 割れ目 負かす／撃墜する on 違法な 移民／移住. But his 壇・綱領・公約 this year doesn't について言及する 移民／移住. The 署名 支え（る） of his （選挙などの）運動をする for 知事 four years ago was a Jeep painted with a U.S. 旗 design and equipped with a replica machine gun, and it's nowhere to be seen this year.
"There´s been some learning, 裁判，公判 and error, over time, and I think Kobach as a 候補者 has grown and become more disciplined," said Moriah Day, a 共和国の／共和党の and gun-権利s 行動主義者 who once worked for Kobach in the 長官 of 明言する／公表する´s office. "There are certainly 助言者s and others who have 押し進めるd hard for that discipline, and some of them have been together for a few cycles now."
Kobach´s Democratic 対抗者 in the Nov. 8 選挙 is Chris Mann, who is making his first run for elective office. While 共和国の／共和党のs have won 80% of statewide 負かす／撃墜する-投票（する） races over the past 50 years, both parties see the Kobach-Mann contest as a 投げ上げる／ボディチェックする-up because of Kobach´s political baggage.
Some of the baggage comes from Kobach 支持するing strict 移民／移住 l aws years before Donald Trump ran for 大統領，／社長 in 2016 and upsetting not only 移民，移住（する） 権利s 支持するs but GOP-leaning 商売／仕事 and 農業の groups.
Kris Kobach, the 共和国の／共和党の 候補者 for Kansas 弁護士／代理人／検事 general, ponders a question from reporters during a news 会議／協議会, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, in Topeka, Kansas. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
Kobach also 押し進めるd the idea that droves of people could be 投票（する）ing 不法に and 支持する／優勝者d a 堅い 証明する-your-市民権 支配する for new Kansas 投票者s, only to see the 連邦の 法廷，裁判所s strike it 負かす／撃墜する and order the 明言する／公表する to 支払う／賃金 投票（する）ing 権利s 弁護士／代理人／検事s $1.4 million.
Kobach served as co-chairman of Trump´s short-lived 大統領の （a）忠告の／（n）警報 （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 on "選挙 正直さ" and 促進するd Trump´s lies about 普及した 投票者 詐欺. At the time, The Associated 圧力（をかける） 報告（する）／憶測d that Kobach oversaw an 選挙 system in Kansas that threw out at least three times as many 投票（する）s in the 2016 選挙 as any 類似の ly sized 明言する／公表する did, 燃料ing 関心s about 大規模な 投票者 鎮圧 should its practices become the 国家の 基準.
Then there was his brand in his 2018 and 2020 races, the 闘士，戦闘機 who was even willing to take on GOP leaders. While 共和国の／共和党のs across the U.S. have embraced a combative persona in Trump and other 候補者s, and Trump carried Kansas twice by wide 利ざやs, the 明言する／公表する's 投票者s more often have 好意d 候補者s with more of an aw-shucks demeanor.
The Jeep with the machine gun became a symbol of how Kobach seemed not to care that he annoyed or 怒り／怒るd some 投票者s. He mocked what he called the "snowflake 炉心溶融" the first time he 棒 it in a parade in 2018.
Some are skeptical that Kobach has changed in any 事実 way, and say he is not always on message. For example, his comments during （選挙などの）運動をする 外見s いつかs veer into his 計画（する） to slowly and 静かに 作戦行動 to 禁止（する） abortion.
Kansas 投票者s in August decisively 拒絶するd a 提案するd 改正 to the 明言する／公表する 憲法 that would have （疑いを）晴らすd the way for the 共和国の／共和党の 立法機関 to 強化する abortion 制限s or 禁止（する） the 手続き. Kobach 支援するd the 手段, which was GOP 国会議員s' 返答 to a 2019 Kansas 最高裁判所 決定／判定勝ち（する） 宣言するing 接近 to abortion a "根底となる" 権利 under the 明言する／公表する's 法案 of 権利s.
Kobach 支持するs 修正するing the 明言する／公表する 憲法 to elect 最高裁判所 司法（官）s rather than have 知事s 任命する them. 結局 new, more 保守的な 司法（官）s would overturn the 2019 判決，裁定, he argues.
支援者s argue that Kobach's 見解（をとる）s on abortion are 井戸／弁護士席-known enough that he can't backpedal now.
But he's pitching a 提案 that 直面するs big political 障害物s, and some 共和国の／共和党のs 恐れる that talking about abortion will keep 穏健な 共和国の／共和党のs and 独立した・無所属s riled and 上げる Democratic 人出／投票者数. Kobach has said he'll defend 存在するing abortion 制限s as 弁護士／代理人／検事 general, but his critics worry that he'll 追跡（する） for new ways to 抑制（する） 接近 if he's elected.
"I thought we had a 代表者／国会議員 form of 政府, but it looks like Kris Kobach will certainly be willing to subvert the wishes of the 投票者s when he has a chance," said former Kansas House 大多数 Leader Don Hineman, a 穏健な 共和国の／共和党の and western Kansas 農業者.
民主党員 Mann, 46, was a police officer in his 早期に 20s in the northeastern Kansas city of Lawrence, where he now lives. An on-義務 事故 伴う／関わるing a drunken driver ended his career in uniform and he then served as a 検察官，検事 in nearby Kansas City, Kansas, as a 明言する／公表する 安全s regulator and on the board of Mothers Against Drunk 運動ing.
"I´m not in this to chase the スポットライト or to 得る，とらえる attention like my 対抗者, and that´s all he´s going to do," Mann said during an interview.
Kobach, 56, said he's learned from past （選挙などの）運動をするs and is 委任する／代表ing more 仕事s. For this year´s race, he 雇うd Axiom 戦略s, a 目だつ Kansas City-area GOP 会社／堅い, and his 長，指導者 顧問 is a 保守的な 明言する／公表する 上院議員, J.R. Claeys, in good standing with 最高の，を越す Kansas 共和国の／共和党のs.
And that Jeep with the replica machine gun from four years ago?
"That was a different time," Kobach said, chuckling, 公式文書，認めるing that four years ago was "権利 in the middle" of Trump´s high-演劇 行政.
Kobach's lower-重要な （選挙などの）運動をする 控訴，上告s to William Hendrix, a 21-year-old Topeka 居住（者） who is treasurer for a 地元の Young 共和国の／共和党のs group. He 予報するd that as 弁護士／代理人／検事 general, Kobach would "冷静な／正味の 負かす／撃墜する on the （選挙などの）運動をする-追跡する rhetoric."
"He´ll see the 制限s of the office and also at the same time, what he can do with what he has," H endrix said.
But Kobach also might appear more 手段d than in the past because if he loses this year, "it really could be, かもしれない, the end," said （頭が）ひょいと動く Beatty, a political science professor at Washburn University in Topeka.
Patrick Miller, an associate University of Kansas professor of political science, wondered whether Kobach seems いっそう少なく 挑発的な because the 弁護士／代理人／検事 general's race can't 命令（する） the same 肉親，親類d of attention his 2018 and 2020 races did.
"All of that attention given to him in 2018 was an 招待 for him to be very flamboyant as a 政治家，政治屋," Miller said. "Maybe losing had an 影響 on that and maybe he´s more 用心深い. Maybe, he´s more calculating."
Kobach has 約束d to spend each breakfast thinking about 可能性のある 訴訟s against the Democratic 大統領，／社長's 行政 and during one Topeka event 勧めるd the （人が）群がる to 詠唱する, "告訴する Biden."
The 候補者 himself goes 支援する and 前へ／外へ on whether there's a new Kobach. He says there is a little truth in the GOP buzz but some exaggeration, too.
"I´m still my old self in the sense that I stick to my guns," Kobach said. "I don´t 支援する 負かす／撃墜する."
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Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna
In this photo from Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022, Kris Kobach, the 共和国の／共和党の 指名された人 for Kansas 弁護士／代理人／検事 general, makes a short speech at the start of a bus 小旅行する across Kansas for GOP 候補者s in Topeka, Kan. Many 共和国の／共和党のs say they're seeing a "new," calmer, steadier Kobach this year after he lost the 2018 race for Kansas 知事 and a U.S. 上院 最初の／主要な in 2020. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
In this May 1998 family photo, Chris Mann, 権利, now the Democratic 指名された人 for Kansas 弁護士／代理人／検事 general, stands with his father, left, in his new Lawrence police uniform, in Lawrence, Kansas. Mann would later be 負傷させるd on 義務 and 軍隊d to give up his career as an officer before becoming a lawyer, a 検察官，検事 in Kansas City, Kansas, and a 国家の board member for Mothers Against Drunk 運動ing. (Chris Mann 経由で AP)
In this photo from Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018, Kris Kobach, then the Kansas 長官 of 明言する／公表する and the 共和国の／共和党の 指名された人 for Kansas 知事, rides in a parade in a jeep with a replica machine gun in Baldwin City, Kan. The jeep was the 署名 支え（る） in Kobach's （選挙などの）運動をする for 知事 that year, which he lost to 民主党員 Laura Kelly. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
In this photo from Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022, Chris Mann, the Democratic 候補者 for Kansas 弁護士／代理人／検事 general, answers questions as he stands out police （警察，軍隊などの）本部 in Lawrence, Kan. Mann is a former Lawrence police officer who was 負傷させるd on 義務 and then became a 地元の 検察官，検事 and Mothers Against Drunk 運動ing 国家の board member. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
