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Boyda loses to Jenkins in close race

By Joe Preiner

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Mike Lynch said last Friday that the Nancy Boyda-Lynn Jenkins congressional race would be close.

Lynch, an assistant professor of political science, was right.

“That one will be a surprise,” Lynch said. “It’s one of the few races I don’t have a good guess for.”

photo

Associated Press

Nancy Boyda lost her bid for re-election to Lynn Jenkins.

As of 11 p.m. Tuesday night, the race was still too close to call, but almost an hour later Boyda gave her concession speech. Before the speech, the banquet room in Topeka’s Ramada Inn was scattered with members of the Democratic Party. Most stood proudly, talking loudly to one another about President-elect Barack Obama’s victory. A select few, still waiting on Boyda’s race results, sat patiently.

It was not the first time Boyda (D-Kan.) had been in a political showdown. Boyda, the Democratic nominee representing Kansas’ large 2nd district, had to scrap her way to victory in the 2006 election. Then, her opponent was Republican Jim Ryun. In what local newspapers deemed an upset, Boyda won herself a seat in Congress, claiming 51 percent of the votes to Ryun’s 47 percent.

Tuesday night was more of the same but with a new opponent. Boyda faced off against Republican candidate Lynn Jenkins, Kansas state treasurer. For most of the night the vote count was dead even.

Jenny Davidson, a spokeswoman for Boyda’s campaign, said the race was too close to call even after the percentages swung in Jenkins’ favor. Jenkins led Boyda by more than 7,000 votes with more than half of the voting precincts reporting.

Then it ended.

Just as the evening turned into early morning, Boyda delivered her speech, conceding the close race to her opponent. The loss ended Boyda’s attempt for a second consecutive term as a U.S. Congresswoman. The race was as close as it had been in previous years, with Boyda on the receiving end of defeat. Jenkins secured 51 percent of the votes to Boyda’s 46 percent.

In her two years in Congress, Boyda remained connected with the people she represented. According to her campaign’s Web site, Boyda returned home to Kansas nearly every weekend while in Congress. Her connections and dedication to serving Kansas fell short of assuring her victory on Tuesday.

Lynch said one reason the race was close was Jenkins’ status as a moderate Republican rather than a more conservative Republican. He said the general trend for the 2nd district indicated the race would be close with a slight edge going to the Republican candidate.

In her concession speech, Boyda thanked those involved in her campaign and compared this year’s election loss with her 2006 election victory.

“Two years ago I stood up here under very different circumstances,” Boyda said. “I said that I’d won elections and lost elections and that winning was better. Winning is better.”

Boyda and Jenkins ran similar campaigns, with similar views on many key issues. Their main difference came in regard to taxes, with Jenkins in support of renewing the Bush tax cuts and Boyda opting to let them expire.

Boyda urged her supporters to celebrate what they had accomplished rather than to dwell on the lost election.

“They said no Democrat could win an election in deep red Kansas, that it wasn’t even worth the fight,” Boyda said in her concession speech. “They were wrong. We’ve achieved the impossible and that’s something we should celebrate tonight.”

— — Edited by Becka Cremer

Comments

fchambers (Francesca Chambers) says...

I like the quote you ended with. I think it really summed up her legacy.

November 5, 2008 at 9:18 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

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