KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ President Donald Trump officially endorsed Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach on Monday, a day before polls close in Kansas in the GOP primary for governor.
The endorsement is a major slight to the state's sitting governor, Jeff Colyer of Johnson County, who rose to the state's top office in January after Trump appointed former Gov. Sam Brownback to an ambassadorship.
"Kris Kobach, a strong and early supporter of mine, is running for Governor of the Great State of Kansas. He is a fantastic guy who loves his State and our Country _ he will be a GREAT Governor and has my full & total Endorsement! Strong on Crime, Border & Military. VOTE TUESDAY!" Trump said on Twitter.
State Rep. J.R. Claeys, a Salina Republican who works as Kobach's campaign manager, said the White House reached out about a half-hour before Trump's tweet to say an endorsement was on the way.
Claeys confirmed news reports that back in February, Trump was ready to endorse Kobach. Kobach and Trump spoke on Saturday, Claeys said, as well as the weekend before.
They generally talk about immigration issues, Claeys said.
"Usually he wants to hear about opinions on DHS and other issues with ICE," Claeys said. "(Trump) just asks Kris' advice on those issues."
The endorsement comes shortly before the Aug. 7 primary, but after advance voting started in the state last month.
Colyer has repeatedly asserted his support for Trump's agenda in recent weeks, including when he refused to take sides when the president attacked Wichita's Koch family on social media Tuesday.
The Associated Press had previously reported that Trump wanted to endorse Kobach, but that aides had counseled the president against an endorsement for fear of alienating Colyer's supporters.
The president's involvement in the race could help tip the GOP primary in Kobach's favor in a state where Trump won the 2016 election by double digits.
Trump's late endorsement of Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp over the state's lieutenant governor helped Kemp, a candidate with views similar to Kobach, prevail in the state's GOP primary for governor last month.
Kobach, the top election official in Kansas, served as vice chair of a now-disbanded presidential commission tasked with investigating voter fraud and has been cited by Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway as the source of the president's unsubstantiated claim that millions of illegal votes cost him the popular vote in 2016.
The Kansas secretary of state also appears to have been involved in the Trump administration's decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 U.S. Census.
Kobach was the only statewide GOP official to back Trump's candidacy ahead of the Kansas caucuses in 2016 and later went on to advise Trump's campaign on immigration policy.
He helped add Trump's promised border wall to the national Republican platform and went onto to serve on the president's transition team after the 2016 election.
Kobach's campaign highlighted this work in the final days of the campaign with a mailer that featured photos of Kobach with president and stated in all capital letters that "WHEN PRESIDENT TRUMP NEEDED A PLAN TO FIX ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION... HE TURNED TO THE EXPERT."
Kobach's campaign has centered on many of the same themes as Trump's presidential run. The conservative firebrand, who has served as secretary of state since 2011, has promised to combat illegal immigration and rid Topeka of corruption, a clear echo of Trump's promise to "drain the swamp" in Washington.
The president's oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., has made two campaign appearances on Kobach's behalf. He headlined a fundraiser in Overland Park last year and returned to the state in July for an event in Wichita.
Kobach's connection to the Trump family can be traced back to his friendship with Keith Mark, a Kansas attorney who introduced Kobach to the younger Trump in early 2016.
