Kansas is not on track to become the next Colorado, it's on track to become the next Indiana: a mostly Republican state that has a small chance of flipping in a landslide election (2008, in Indiana's case).
The Democrats have become stronger in Kansas in recent years for these reasons:
1. Backlash against Brownback (and others - Kobach, etc)
2. Growing diversity in the southwest part of the state. The most diverse municipality in Kansas is not in the KC or Wichita metros, it's Garden City. Since the 1980s, successive waves of immigration have hit the area, first from Southeast Asia, then Somalia, and more recently Mexico and Central America.
3. The suburban realignment is beginning to properly kick in in the Kansas City area. Johnson County has trended strongly toward the Democrats in recent years, and I would not be surprised to see Biden win the county, or at least come very close, this November.
Trump won Johnson County by 2.5 after Romney won it by 17.5. Kobach lost it by 16.7%, granted different race, and that won't repeat itself for President. 55.3% have a Bachelor's Degree. Johnson is GONE for the GOP, and the state is trending Democratic. With that said, it isn't trending anywhere hard enough and is coming from too Republican for the Democrats to have any realistic shot of winning the state outside of a large national victory where it sneaks by (Indiana 2008)
