ELLY GRIMM

    • Leader & Times

Election Day saw multiple seats throughout the U.S. flip political parties, and one of those was the Attorney General’s office in Kansas.

Chris Mann defeated Kris Kobach for the role and will be sworn in in January. As Mann tells it, Election Night was a long one for him and his staff.

“We all stayed up really late and got down to the final vote count when all the precincts had reported in, and everyone said ‘That's it, we won this race,’” Mann said. “At that point, it was about 2 a.m., and there were just a handful of folks in the room at that point that we figured it out, and then of course Friday the AP also officially called the race.”

And to an extent, Mann said, the results are still sinking in for him.

“It takes time for something like that to fully sink in. It's a big responsibility,” Mann said. “I know the office is an important one to the people of Kansas and one that can do a lot of good, so I immediately felt the weight of the office and understood I had a really important job to do, and make sure I follow through with the things I said during the campaign. I want to make sure we're protecting Kansans, working on consumer fraud issues, and doing the things that are necessary to keep folks safe throughout the state. We’re looking forward to working with Kris Kobach's staff to start a transition process and make sure we have a smooth and orderly transition because that's important not just to the public servants who work in that office, but also to the people of Kansas and to the cases that are ongoing and the work that office does to protect the people of Kansas. We've already worked on standing up a transition team, and we're going to have some more information about that coming out in about a week or so, but we're working through that process now and making sure we have all the pieces in place to hit the ground running on day one.”

Even though the election results are still recent, Mann said he is already getting ready to go.

“A main goal of mine is bringing the office back to the basics of public service and public safety. As I talked to law enforcement leaders across the state and traveled more than 50,000 miles in more than 75 counties in the past year, we continued to hear folks, especially in rural Western Kansas, were not getting the support they needed from the attorney general's office in investigating and prosecuting crimes,” Mann said. “So a main priority will be to make sure those resources are getting to the places they’re needed, and showing up for communities across the state. Another major concern I heard while traveling throughout the state is folks want their leaders to show up and listen, so I want that to be something I not only did during the campaign, but something I will continue to do as Attorney General. I want to make sure I'm showing up throughout the state, listening to people, figuring out what the issues are, and then working to help resolve them. Another main priority is consumer fraud because we have seen a skyrocketing in consumer fraud in the state. The first six months of this year, consumers lost more than $30 million just in Kansas to frauds and scams, and we have to do more to educate folks in the state and make sure they understand what these frauds are and how they can not fall prey to them. We also need to work on holding the bad actors accountable and getting justice for people who have been harmed by those frauds and scams.”

With all of that in mind, Mann said there will definitely be a lot of travel involved.

“We started that process during the campaign in terms of making contact with law enforcement leaders, farm bureaus, business owners, and communities across the state. Now, we're going to go back and make sure that we know exactly what's happening and what work that the AG can do to help benefit those groups and communities around the state,” Mann said. “Folks will see me traveling around the state during the transition period and once I take office to make sure we're talking to people and listening and doing the things I said we need to do for this office. I’m also really looking forward to working with the public servants who are in the office right now who are doing the work every day I've been talking about, and supporting them and making sure they have the resources they need to go out and help people in their communities. There are a great many amazing attorneys, support staff, KBI agents, and others who work in these offices who really care about the work they do, and I want to make sure that's acknowledged and we continue to support them in that work, that's probably the part I'm most excited about.”

Mann also emphasized he will be an attorney general for the entire state.

“I said this during the campaign, and I’m going to stick to it while I’m in this role – this office isn't about Team Red or Team Blue. I obviously ran as a Democrat and won, but the office is bigger than that,” Mann said. “The attorney genera’s office has a purpose that transcends politics, and I want to make sure the people who didn't vote for me get just as good of service as the people who did vote for me. That's what people in Kansas expect and deserve, especially from an office like this. I look forward to talking to folks around the state about the issues that are important to them. People can reach out to me at chris@chris mannforkansas.com, that's the email we're using now through the transition, and I really look forward to talking to folks there.”