Politics

Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins says it may not be easy to get a Kansan back on the Agriculture Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. Kansas congressman Tim Huelskamp lost his seat on the committee last week.

Jenkins says the three remaining members of the Kansas House delegation already serve on high-profile committees, like Appropriations or Ways and Means. House rules say if you serve on one of those powerful committees, you can't serve on a second.

She says it would take a waiver for one of them to be allowed to take Huelskamp's place.

Political science professors from around Kansas will gather Thursday to discuss the 2012 election.

Washburn University in Topeka is hosting the meeting, which will focus on the campaign and the election results. Nationwide, Democrats held the presidency and gained some seats in Congress.

Washburn political science professor Bob Beatty says they'll look at how different the election results were nationally and in Kansas, where conservative Republicans gained power in the state Legislature.

A Democratic legislator who's been a critic of Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach says she won't seek a recount after losing her race for re-election by 21 votes out of nearly 11,000 cast.

State Representative Ann Mah of Topeka said Friday that a recount probably wouldn't change the outcome of the 54th House District contest. She lost to Republican challenger Ken Corbet of Topeka.

The district covers parts of Douglas, Shawnee and Osage counties. The last reviews of ballots - in Shawnee County - finished late Thursday.

Republican Mike Pompeo beat out both Democrat Robert Tillman and Libertarian candidate Thomas Jefferson.  Tillman who served the state for 24 years says he desired to continue serving Kansas as a United States Congressman, but now will look to other things.

"The whole world is open to me," says Tillman. "I still have a chance to decide what I'm going to do. I'm a retired Kansas Supreme Court Services officer, I retired in 2008 so I'll go back right into retirement and then I'll regroup."