Congressman Jerry Moran stopped Thursday morning in Lawrence to learn about Health Care Access, a clinic that serves low-income, uninsured residents in Douglas County. Moran, who is candidate for the U.S. Senate, was invited by clinic leaders. He spent about an hour at the clinic, 330 Maine, touring and asking questions about its operations, funding and relationships with other providers.

It pretty much all came down to country vs. city, and country won.That in a nutshell is what allowed U.S. Rep. Jerry Moran, bolstered by his country roots in the vast 1st Congressional District, to defeat Rep. Todd Tiahrt, who is from the Sedgwick County-dominated 4th in Tuesday’s Republican primary for the Senate.

Kansas Republicans on Tuesday chose U.S. Rep. Jerry Moran as their nominee for an open U.S. Senate seat in a primary race that saw both leading candidates fighting aggressively and sometimes bitterly for conservative GOP voters. Moran overcame a strong challenge from fellow Rep. Todd Tiahrt and questions raised by Tiahrt supporters about Moran’s commitment to being conservative. With most of the vote counted, Moran had just shy of 50 percent to Tiahrt’s 45 percent, with two minor candidates splitting the rest.

Jerry Moran held off a full-throttle challenge from Todd Tiahrt on Tuesday to win the bitter Republican nomination fight for Kansas’ Senate seat in a race tighter than polls had indicated.The race remained too close to call throughout the night until returns from Moran’s home base in western Kansas thrust him into a commanding 15,000-vote lead.

Jerry Moran’s large, but not very populated First District has delivered him to the doorstep of the United States Senate. Moran survived a stiff challenge from Wichita area Congressman Todd Tiahrt because of his firewall in his home district. There may not be a lot of people in the district, but they vote. It is part of the civic culture. So when their boy Jerry launched the campaign, part of the strategy was to protect him with strong margins from the First District

U.S. Rep. Jerry Moran survived a caustic barn-burner Tuesday against a well-known Republican rival to win the nomination for U.S. Senate and set up a showdown with a novice politician who upset the presumed front-runner to top the Democratic ticket.