KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Ticket-splitting is nothing new for Kansas voters. Still, Tuesday’s election is leading to some surprise among political wonks.

That surprise? Republican Kris Kobach secured a win in the attorney general race while Democrat Laura Kelly retained the governor’s seat.

Kobach has made future legal challenges against the White House a centerpiece of his campaign. In his victory speech, he said his election was about “saving Kansas and saving our country,” viewing lawsuits as his means to do so.

But the question now is how might that goal conflict with Kelly’s?

On election night, Kobach shared a number of planned legal challenges he will be bringing on behalf of Kansans.

“I believe that America is not a country that kicks people out of the armed forces for asserting their First Amendment right to free exercise of religion,” Kobach said. “I believe that America is not a country that should shut down its oil production and then go begging Saudi Arabia to produce more oil. Last time I checked, I think it comes from the same planet but I might be mistaken.”

The plans conflict with Kelly’s tone.

FOX4 asked Dr. Bob Beatty, political science chair at Washburn University, if Kelly and Kobach will be undercutting each other in some way — and if that will make things difficult for Kansas.

“It’s a big question about how much conflict there might be between Democrat Laura Kelly and Republican Kris Kobach. But we have to remember that Laura Kelly staked her entire re-election campaign on staying out of national politics,” Beatty said.

“So arguably, that’s what people want out of her. Whereas Kris Kobach got elected by openly stating, ‘I’m jumping right in to national politics.’ So while there could be conflict between these two, they really got elected on different pathways.”

Kobach’s Democratic opponent Chris Mann still has not conceded the race, sharing online that he’s waiting for mail-in ballots to be counted.