TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican candidate Kris Kobach echoed President Donald Trump's assertion that Trump can deny U.S. citizenship to babies born to parents living in the country illegally, intensifying a focus on immigration in the final days of a close Kansas governor's race.

Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state, is Trump's biggest political ally in the state and has advised the White House on homeland security issues. He also has made pursuing tough state measures against illegal immigration a cornerstone of his campaign for governor.

But in backing Trump on whether the president can end...