Mark Parkinson was elevated to governor of Kansas in April 2009, when Gov. Kathleen Sebelius resigned to become U.S. secretary of health and human services in the Obama administration.

Parkinson had been elected lieutenant governor in 2006, when the Sebelius-Parkinson ticket captured nearly 58 percent of the vote. As state GOP chairman, Parkinson was critical of Sebelius in 2002 and even derided her pick of another Republican-turned-Democrat as a gimmick. But when he ran with her, he said he'd been mistaken about what kind of governor she would make.

As a Republican, he won a seat in the Kansas House in 1990 with 72 percent of the vote in the general election, not an unusual result for the GOP stronghold of Johnson County. Two years later, he won a three-person GOP primary for a Senate seat, then had no general election opponent.

In 1996, then-Gov. Bill Graves, a Republican, considered Parkinson as a potential replacement for U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, who resigned to run as the Republican nominee for president, though Graves eventually chose Lt. Gov. Sheila Frahm. Parkinson later toyed with running for governor and Congress, but declined.

(Last updated by John Hanna on May 8, 2009.)

Sam Brownback won his first full Senate term in 1998, in a relatively easy race against Democrat Paul Feleciano, a state senator from Wichita, Kan. Brownback received 65 percent of the vote.

He was re-elected in 2004, winning 69 percent of the vote over Democrat Lee Jones.

In December 2008, Brownback announced he would not seek re-election to the Senate in 2010. He launched a campaign for governor instead.

Brownback announced a bid for the White House in January 2007 but dropped out of the race in October 2007.

Brownback entered federal elective politics in 1994, running for the open 2nd District seat in the U.S. House. He won a three-way Republican primary and received 66 percent of the vote in the general election against former Democratic Gov. John Carlin.

In 1996, Bob Dole gave up his Senate seat to run as the Republican nominee for president, and Brownback jumped into the race quickly. In the GOP primary, Brownback defeated Sheila Frahm, whom Gov. Bill Graves had appointed to fill the seat before the election.

In the 1996 special election that year, Brownback received 54 percent of the vote against Democrat Jill Docking.

(Last updated by John Hanna on March 31, 2009.)

Pat Roberts first won his U.S. Senate seat in 1996, defeating Democrat Sally Thompson with 62 percent of the vote.

In 2002, Roberts' longtime colleague in the U.S. House, former Democratic Rep. Dan Glickman, briefly considered challenging Roberts but bowed out after the Sept. 11 attacks, saying it was time for the nation to pull together. In the end, Roberts had no Democratic challenger. He was re-elected in with 83 percent of the vote.

In 2008, Roberts faced a challenge from Democrat Jim Slattery. Slattery, a former 2nd District congressman turned Washington lobbyist, waged a spirited campaign, attacking Roberts over the Iraq war and the meltdown of the financial system. But Roberts still captured 60 percent of the vote.

Roberts first was elected to the U.S. House in 1980 when his boss of 12 years, the late Rep. Keith Sebelius, decided not to seek re-election.

Roberts won a three-way race for the Republican nomination in the sprawling 1st District of western Kansas with 56 percent of the vote, then won the general election with 62 percent of the vote.

Roberts won in 1982 with 68 percent, in 1984 with 76 percent, in 1986 with 75 percent, in 1988 with 100 percent, in 1990 with 63 percent, in 1992 with 68 percent and in 1994 with 77 percent.

(Last updated by John Hanna on March 31, 2009.)