There's a lot of people who think Kobach won Johnson County in the primary because people there thought he'd be easier to beat in the general. Looks like they were right.
It's easy to blame it all on Johnson, Wyandotte, and Douglas Counties. But Kobach also lost Sedgewick County (Wichita), Shawnee County (Topeka), and Lyon County (Emporia). As well as a few others. This was a pretty decisive rebuke for him, and it doesn't bode well for his chances of replacing Roberts next time around.
I believe the TV ads that were non-stop of how so many Kansas Republicans could not support Kobach is what got him beat. Having lived all over the country and coming back to Kansas, I was alarmed at the liberal nature of thought in Johnson County and their ‘pious’ stance on being open-minded, tolerant and wanting to prove how tolerant. Personally, I don’t find many that will discuss the difficult things that only a political discussion will solve. The school funding was a joke as rich school districts sued for funding and a failure of a (state) Supreme Court followed through on their demands. Republicans not happy with the nominee(s) and education funding were the bludgeons used against them. Final note - school funding was put to a vote in many districts (over last two years) and people voted them down locally; after losing the vote, some districts participated in the lawsuit - disgusting.