Kris Kobach is changing campaign tactics. Will it be enough to beat Democrat Chris Mann?

In 2018, Kris Kobach's bid for governor featured an appearance at a parade in Shawnee, guns blazing quite literally on a pro-Donald Trump Jeep adorned with mock machine guns on the rear.

To many, this summarized the brash approach Kobach brought to the failed campaign. Observers and voters keeping tabs on his bid for the attorney general's office in 2022, however, should expect Kobach to leave his guns at home.

"That was a different time," he said.

As Kobach does battle with Democrat Chris Mann, the policies he supports have not changed. But Republicans are hoping a more measured campaigning style will appeal to voters and help them forget about that different time — defeat in 2018 and again in a bid for U.S. Senate in 2020.

More:Kris Kobach wins primary race for Kansas attorney general. His comeback isn't complete yet.

"I think what you're going to see with a lot of the voters who are more in the middle of the road, or lean Republican ... are going to be a little bit more open to what Kris has to say this campaign than what he had to say in when he ran for governor," said Kelly Arnold, who served as chair of the Kansas Republican Party during Kobach's 2018 gubernatorial bid.

Others, however, don't buy it, arguing a Kobach victory would be a threat to democracy. Refreshing perhaps the most notorious brand in Kansas politics, they argue, is not possible.

"Most Kansans are weary of the P.T. Barnum circus-like atmosphere that is reflective of Kris Kobach," said Sen. David Haley, D-Kansas City.

Polling has shown the race is competitive. Republicans remain confident that Kobach's new posture will help win those voters over, while Democrats and some moderates argue there has been no real change to his underlying policy positions and that his shortcomings remain.

"I don't know that Kris Kobach has changed his positions on policy, but he's repackaging it," said Michael Smith, a professor of political science at Emporia State University. "And will voters go for it? I don't know."

Kris Kobach still supports conservative policies in attorney general bid

There is no doubt that Kobach's campaign remains staunchly conservative.

He has backed judicial selection reform to pave the way for the reversal of a court decision preserving abortion rights and has said that, as attorney general, he will vigorously defend existing anti-abortion restrictions.

And he has called for the Legislature to enhance penalties for drug dealers who distribute fentanyl that later results in an overdose.

But Arnold said he believes these issues can reach general election voters in a way that Kobach's strategy in past elections have failed.

"He was not able to bridge that gap with the independents and, and more moderate Republicans," he said. "Because of that, this time around. I've seen him keep his focus on issues that would align more with what the attorney general's race would do."

For his part, Kobach said this is the best organized campaign he has ever been a part of, one which tried a different tact than in past cycles. Rather than running advertisements seeking to define who he was, he attacked his primary opponents, Sen. Kellie Warren and former federal prosecutor Tony Mattivi, from the get-go.

But in terms of substance, Kobach dismissed the notion that much was different.

More:Kris Kobach says he is working to shutter We Build The Wall group amid new Steve Bannon charges

"It's probably been exaggerated," he said. "I'm still my old self, in the sense that I stick to my guns. I don't back down. I justify my positions as well as I can."

While Kobach has long had a love-hate relationship with national Republicans, the Republican Attorney Generals Association appeared to show no hesitancy about pulling the trigger to support Kobach's AG campaign.

His campaign has yet to begin showing TV ads, but RAGA rolled out a commercial this week extolling Kobach's virtues and literally portraying Mann as a puppet for President Joe Biden.

Facing off with Biden has been a hallmark of Kobach's campaign, as he has vowed to challenge President Joe Biden's administration in court via a new civil litigation team specifically designed for that task. He has said he will ask the Legislature for more money to do so, though the ad portrays Kobach as someone who will reign in spending.

"You need an exceptionally good attorney to be running that office, not because he's gonna be arguing every case, but he's gonna be deciding which cases against the federal government are worthy of prosecution, deciding what strategy to use in litigating the defense of a Kansas statute," Kobach said. "And I will be putting all statutes and deciding strategically and tactically what the best legal approach is."

Democrat Chris Mann argues Kris Kobach win would be blow, proposes different vision

Mann and his backers, however, argue Kobach is not the "exceptionally good attorney" needed for the office, pointing to his failed defense of a law requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote, a case that earned him a rebuke from a federal judge and a requirement to take remedial legal education classes.

Kobach's ties to the embattled We Build the Wall group have also drawn attention, with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon facing fraud charges stemming from his work with the organization. Kobach is not expected to face legal troubles and has resigned his position as the group's general counsel and stepped down from its board.

"What he is doing is saying very clearly that if he were to attain this office, he will follow his own political agenda," Mann said at an event Thursday. "He has said very clearly in public that he wants to focus this office on pursuing his political agenda on suing the federal government on whatever whim he has. ... And this office simply is not about one man's political agenda."

Much of Mann's campaign to date has centered on his law enforcement and prosecutorial credentials, as did his first two television ads that rolled out last month.

Mann served as a police officer in Lawrence until he was struck by a drunken driver during a traffic stop and forced to retire. He then entered law school and became a prosecutor before moving into private practice.

Contrasting his experience with Kobach's lengthy track record of running for office, Mann has argued he would ensure competency and a law and order demeanor as attorney general.

On many issues, Mann draws a stark contrast with Kobach.

He has said he does not want to "will not waste the limited resources that we have on attacking women's reproductive rights," though he has not explicitly said he would choose not to defend the state's abortion restrictions against a legal attack.

Still, this position has drawn criticism from Kobach, who has said he will defend all laws, even those he doesn't agree with.

"I will not attack anyone's constitutional right here in Kansas," Mann said. "And Kris Kobach, has clearly said that he will attack women's constitutional rights."

More:Kansas abortion clinics are highly regulated. Will access change in the future?

But in a departure from other Democrat candidates, Mann has discussed the need to counter-act what he has called rising crime rates. While rates for most categories of crime decreased in 2021, Mann has said things are still well above the 10-year average.

He also made headlines by opposing a plan in Wichita to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, saying he did not believe "a patchwork of local rules is going to be helpful" and that a statewide solution would be necessary.

Mann's tactics, said Smith, the Emporia State professor, are reminiscent of what other successful Kansas Democrats have used in the past, including Paul Morrison, the former Johnson County district attorney who was the last Democrat elected as attorney general before he was forced to resign over allegations of infidelity.

"You really drill the law enforcement credentials there," Smith said. "Keep your party out of it, keep the national party out of it, and just run on the Kansas Democrat playbook. Oh, and don't have a sex scandal."

Kobach's polarizing image has helped Mann get traction with some traditionally Republican groups, with the Kansas Livestock Association endorsing him last month, as did former Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

The hope is for Mann to peel away support from Kobach's primary opponents, most notably Mattivi, who has endorsed Kobach but based his campaign on reaching the same type of legal and law enforcement communities that Mann has looked to target.

Paul Snyder, an Overland Park attorney, said he helped to organize a group of attorneys to back Mann because of his legal skill relative to Kobach. Snyder noted he attended one day of the 2018 trial over the proof of citizenship law and "couldn't believe what I was seeing."

"It was the most embarrassing display of legal incompetence that I've seen in more than 30 years of practice in the state of Kansas," Snyder said.

Polling shows Kris Kobach, Chris Mann race expected to be competitive

A 27 News poll released by Emerson College earlier this month found Kobach with a narrow lead over Mann, though 30% of voters remained undecided. And national prognosticator Larry Sabato has dubbed the race a tossup.

But the down-ballot nature of the race means many might not be tracking the race as closely as past Kobach runs.

"We lose enthusiasm from people I'm talking to ... about down-ballot races," said Haley, the Democratic senator.

Indeed, experts have worried that funding and attention could be hard to come by in a year where Gov. Laura Kelly and Attorney General Derek Schmidt are doing battle for the governor's mansion and both parties are locked in a tight race for Kansas' 3rd Congressional District in the Kansas City area — the state's most expensive media market.

Kobach's presence on the ballot has proven that he remains a lightening rod for attention, good or bad. But whether his efforts to change tactics will result in victory remain unclear.

Mike Kuckelman, current chair of the Kansas Republican Party, said he has been pleased with Kobach's efforts to date, saying that vestiges of previous campaigns were fully in the past.

More:What Kansas governor and attorney general candidates say about new violent crime numbers

"That was then and this is now," he said. "And I think his messaging is pretty good."

But Smith said Kobach's attempts to outrun his past may prove more difficult.

"In rural Kansas, he may get some mileage out of that," he said. "But I don't know how that's going to play in Johnson County or Topeka or Wichita."

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kris Kobach hopes new tactics can beat Chris Mann in Kansas AG race