Sam Brownback easily won the keys to the Kansas governor’s office and led a Republican wave that retook all of Kansas’ statewide offices Tuesday, delivering conservatives a major victory and ending the Democrats’ hold on state leadership.

Brownback, who is leaving the U.S. Senate, beat Democratic candidate Tom Holland 63 percent to 32 percent with 96 percent of precincts counted late Tuesday night. Brownback was the front-runner throughout the campaign with a formidable advantage in fundraising and name recognition. He ran on a platform of making the state more competitive for private sector jobs by limiting taxes and regulation and cutting state spending.

“Tomorrow we put on our work gloves and start about the task of getting this state on track to grow,” Brownback said.

In the other statewide races, Republican challengers defeated every single Democratic incumbent and won back offices lost in the brief Democratic renaissance led by former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

Read the complete story at kansascity.com