'These women': Republican bemoans young female voters 'stealing' elections

Kansas State Rep. Pat Proctor, a Republican running for Kansas Secretary of State, lamented just how annoyed he is with female voters.

In a video revealed by his opponent, Jennifer Day, Proctor complained about the 2022 defeat of a ballot measure restricting reproductive freedom in the state.

"There's like, all these, like, women, uh, like 20 to 30-year-old women, who, you know, that you never saw at the polls before, and it's like a long line, the long line, and they're all there to vote," Proctor said.

"And it's just the — they're stealing it fair and square," Proctor said about the female voters, acknowledging that they were all legal voters. "And they all came back out, cause I can see 'em. You know, you had 700 unaffiliated female voters, 20-30, that all came out just to circle, in one circle because it was the only question on the ballot."

Procter made the statement while drawing a "circle" with his hand.

"And they all came back out for the general to vote again," said Proctor about the young female voters.

As of the last count on the Secretary of State's website, there are 575,983 unaffiliated voters in Kansas. Republican voter registration has slightly decreased in the state since January 2025, dropping by about 10,000 voters. A Kansas Reflector report noted that the vote over the ballot measure was "historic."

"Overall, Kansas women made up almost 56 percent of voters in the August 2022 election. And the younger the voters, the more women dominated. Voters between 18 and 24 years old were 61 percent female," the report said.

Retired researcher Earl F. Glynn pointed to a significant discrepancy in the gender of voters in Kansas using U.S. census data and reports after the 2022 election.

"A recent Kansas voter file with 1,975,884 voters shows 1,027,582 females, 937,011 males and 11,291 voters who did not select a gender," Glynn wrote. That math shows that there were 90,000 more female voters in Kansas than male voters.

Kansas' ballot measure is another among red states dealing with issues around reproductive freedom. In the 2024 election, seven states passed ballot measures to ensure access to reproductive healthcare, the State Court Report said after the 2024 election. Missouri affirmed access in that state in early 2026.