Associated Press
Moran Wins GOP Primary for US Senate in Kansas
John Hanna
Overland Park — 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.
For many GOP voters, a key issue was which longtime congressman would be more aggressive in fighting President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats. Many Republicans saw either as an acceptable nominee, and both enjoyed strong ratings from groups such as the National Rifle Association, the American Conservative Union and the National Right to Life Committee.
Moran will face Lisa Johnston, a Baker University administrator from Overland Park who emerged from a five-person Democratic race that also included state Sen. David Haley, of Kansas City, and Charles Schollenberger, a former newspaper reporter and editor from Prairie Village.
The Moran-Tiahrt race was the hottest of the year in Kansas — and among the nastiest in the last generation, as the two candidates hashed over small differences in their records. Moran painted Tiahrt as a Washington insider, while Tiahrt suggested Moran was hiding a moderate streak from voters.
Some voters saw Moran’s campaign as the less negative.
“I think Tiahrt got a little bit too nasty for me at the end,” said Pat Drummond, a 54-year-old self-employed house cleaner from the Kansas City-area suburb of Overland Park who voted for Moran.
But Tiahrt supporters blamed the negative tone on Moran, pointing to mailers from his campaign.
Tiahrt promised to endorse Moran, and the new GOP nominee said he doubts he’ll have a difficult time attracting Tiahrt’s supporters. The two agree on some issues, such as eliminating federal income taxes in favor of a national sales tax and continuing the war in Afghanistan without setting a timetable for withdrawal.
Dozens of supporters chanted, “Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!” in the ballroom of the Marriott hotel in Overland Park, where Republicans planned to have a victory breakfast this morning.
“There are opportunities for us to try to make sure that there is no permanent division. Primaries within the family are a very difficult thing,” Moran said after his victory speech. “Our country is in desperate need of leadership. It’s way past time for Republicans to continue having bickering.”
At his own election-night party at the Wichita Airport Hilton, Tiahrt congratulated Moran as the state’s next senator and promised to work for GOP candidates.
“I do not want a Democrat senator from the state of Kansas,” he said.
Moran is expected to win the November election easily in GOP-leaning Kansas, which hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1932. Johnston is making her first run for office.
The seat they’re seeking is held by Sam Brownback, a conservative Republican who is running for governor instead of seeking another term in the Senate. Brownback overwhelmingly won his GOP primary race against token opposition.
