Salina native J.R. Claeys defeated his Republican primary challenger for Kansas Secretary of State in the first Republican Straw Poll of the 2010 election.

According to Stay Red Kansas, Claeys earned 61.7% of the vote compared to 38.3% for Kris Kobach. Claeys is a Salina native and former president of a national trade association. He is also a former reporter for KSAL radio. Kobach is a professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Claeys arrives in El Salvador Tuesday to serve as an international elections observer for the presidential elections there on Sunday. Claeys is a certified international elections observer, running for the office that oversees Kansas elections.

In the Senate Race, Jerry Moran Defeated Todd Tiahrt 64.3% to 35.7%. In the Governor's Race Sam Brownback defeated Ron Thornburgh 62.3% to 37.7%.

Stay Red Kansas conducted the poll of Republican activists over a three day period online. According to the organization, this year's annual poll was the most heavily voted straw poll in SRK history. When all was said and done, more than 9700 votes were cast, providing a fairly large sample of Kansas' GOP activists.

The official straw poll results were posted Monday on the Stay Red Kansas Blog at http://blog.stayredkansas.com.

Complete Straw Poll Results:

Secretary of State

- J.R. Claeys - 1360 - 61.7%

- Kris Kobach - 844 - 38.3%

U.S. Senate

- Congressman Jerry Moran - 1838 - 64.3%

- Congressman Todd Tiahrt - 1017 - 35.7%

Kansas Governor

- Senator Sam Brownback - 1439 - 62.3%

- S.O.S. Ron Thornburgh - 871 - 37.7%