Jennifer Day is a Democratic candidate for Kansas Secretary of State in 2026, a former one-term state representative from Johnson County who has worked as an election judge and advance voting worker since 2018. She is running on expanding voter access, pushing back against election disinformation, and modernizing the office’s business registration services. Her Democratic primary is August 4, 2026.1Topeka Capital-Journal. Jennifer Day Files Candidacy for Kansas Secretary of State
Who She Is
Day lives in northeast Johnson County and runs a real estate investment and interior design business she launched with her husband in 2013. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Pepperdine University.2Kansas Farm Bureau. Jennifer Day
The credential her campaign leans on hardest is local. Day has volunteered with the Johnson County election department since 2018, working both advance voting and Election Day as a supervising judge.2Kansas Farm Bureau. Jennifer Day She is also vice president of the Johnson County chapter of the League of Women Voters and sits on the county’s Museum Advisory Council.1Topeka Capital-Journal. Jennifer Day Files Candidacy for Kansas Secretary of State
Day’s time in elected office was brief. In May 2020, Democratic precinct committee members appointed her to fill House District 48 in southern Overland Park after Rep. Dave Benson resigned to move out of state.3Sunflower State Journal. Democrats Pick Benson Replacement4Johnson County Post. First-Term Democratic State Rep. Jennifer Day Resigns Overland Park Seat5KSHB. Handful of Kansas City Area Races Come Down to Final Votes In the House she sponsored bills to prohibit concealed handguns in the state capitol and to abolish the death penalty in Kansas.6Kansas Legislature. Representative Jennifer Day She resigned in June 2021 after moving out of the district.
What She’s Running On
Day frames her platform around three areas: election integrity, voter access, and business services.
Voter Access
Day argues that Kansas’s 20-day advance voting period is too short and wants to extend it, along with lengthening the timeline for mail-in ballots. She has said she plans to study higher-turnout states for practices Kansas could adopt. She has been vocal against proposals for single-day elections, saying such a change would produce unmanageable lines and effectively disenfranchise voters.1Topeka Capital-Journal. Jennifer Day Files Candidacy for Kansas Secretary of State
Election Integrity
On integrity, Day says voting systems must remain accurate, reliable, and insulated from political interference, and she wants to strengthen communication between the Secretary of State’s office and county election officials to combat disinformation.7Elect Jen Day. Jen Day for Kansas
Business Services
The Secretary of State’s office also handles business filings. Day says she wants to modernize and streamline business registration so entrepreneurs can start and operate more easily in Kansas.7Elect Jen Day. Jen Day for Kansas
Endorsements
Day’s endorsers include Governor Laura Kelly and Kansas House Democratic Leader Brandon Woodard, along with State Representatives Nikki McDonald, Dan Osman, and Jerry Stogsdill and Johnson County Commission Chair Mike Kelly. Organizational backers include March On PAC, Gun Sense, and Planned Parenthood Great Plains.7Elect Jen Day. Jen Day for Kansas
The Democratic Primary
Day faces one primary opponent on August 4, 2026: Samuel Lane, a political newcomer from Shawnee who describes himself as a lifelong independent running on the Democratic ticket.1Topeka Capital-Journal. Jennifer Day Files Candidacy for Kansas Secretary of State Lane is campaigning on election integrity under the slogan “Hold the Line” and has pledged to visit the election offices of all 105 Kansas counties in his first year.8Samuel Lane for Kansas. Samuel Lane for Kansas Day reported roughly $50,000 raised by the month after her announcement; Lane has not publicly disclosed fundraising totals.
The partisan filing deadline closed June 1, 2026.9Kansas Secretary of State. Candidate Filing Deadline Closes
What the Next Secretary of State Will Inherit
Day is running for an office at the center of an escalating fight over Kansas voting rules. During the 2026 session, the legislature advanced HB 2569, which would have repealed no-excuse mail-in voting and imposed new signature verification requirements; Governor Kelly vetoed it, and the House sustained the veto in April 2026.10Kansas Legislature. HB 2569 Other Republican-backed measures included HB 2587, which would reintroduce documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration, and HB 2437, which would create new voter-roll purge mechanisms and restrict online voter registration to government-domain websites. The ACLU of Kansas has said a previous Kansas documentary proof-of-citizenship requirement blocked roughly 35,000 eligible voters from registering between 2013 and 2016 before being struck down in court.11ACLU of Kansas. ACLU of Kansas Warns Against Kansas Lawmakers’ Attacks on Elections and Voters’ Rights
Kansas also tightened mail ballot rules starting in 2026. All mail ballots must now arrive at the county election office by the close of polls on Election Day, ending a three-day grace period. In-person voters must show photo ID, and advance mail voters who fail to provide valid ID receive a provisional ballot that counts only if identification is submitted before the county canvass.12Kansas Secretary of State. Voter Information These are the rules Day’s proposals to extend advance voting and lengthen the mail-ballot window would work against.