The county has about 389,000 registered voters, so that would be a turnout of about 20 percent.
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Earlier in the evening, multiple TV and newspaper reporters were kicked out of Huelskamp’s “victory” headquarters in Hutchinson, with little explanation offered. But two Democrats joined the race. On most issues, be it Obamacare, the Second Amendment or Planned Parenthood, Huelskamp and Marshall weren’t that far apart. Despite that, the chance of Huelskamp’s returning to the agriculture panel is “next to zero, and it’s a gamble that my children and my grandchildren can not take”, Marshall said. “He has a combative, often controversial, sometimes divisive approach to politics that doesn’t sit well with some Republicans”.
Outside groups have spent more than $2.5 million, favoring Marshall by a wide margin. A central issue was Huelskamp’s being booted from the House Agriculture Committee late in 2012 amid disputes with GOP leaders over farm and fiscal legislation.
The farm groups also are angry that Huelskamp hasn’t supported one of the state’s biggest projects, the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, or NBAF, the Department of Homeland Security’s billion-dollar animal disease research facility being built in Manhattan. Marshall, a physician, loaned his campaign another $199,000. Still, Huelskamp had more than $625,000 in cash on hand, while Marshall had only about $243,000. A Huelskamp ad rehashed a 2008 incident in which Marshall pleaded no contest to reckless driving and paid a fine after a neighbor accused Marshall of trying to run him over with a pickup truck.
Other candidates in November will be Libertarian Gordon Bakken and independent Miranda Allen.
Marshall credited his win as “all about agriculture” in the state. Huelskamp, who feuded often with Boehner in the media, became a sort of conservative representative on the Steering Committee, positioning himself to get back on the Agriculture Committee next year. Instead, they’re backing Marshall.
Many voters in this conservative district say they are still aligned with Huelskamp’s social beliefs – opposition to abortion and gay marriage, support of gun rights. Meanwhile, voters are also heading to the polls for primaries in Michigan, Missouri, and Washington. Jerry Moran opposed the final version.
The move made Huelskamp a tea party darling but created fallout in farm country.
In other Kansas congressional races, U.S. Sen. Strong public schools encouraged families to move into its leafy and affluent subdivisions, and voters have regularly authorized bonds and tax increases to support them. Its biggest donors include Ricketts’ wife Marlene and Elliott Management, the hedge fund founded by Republican fundraiser Paul Singer. To establishment Republicans, the House Freedom Caucus member is a troublemaker.
In total, outside groups have spent almost $1.5 million to shape the outcome of Tuesday’s primary.
Marsha Rogers, a 58-year-old Democratic voter from Alma who works as a health insurance counselor for seniors, said she is upset with the state’s budget problems, particularly because they have led to cuts in funding for services for the elderly. He was a vocal critic of former House Speaker John Boehner, and Huelskamp’s supporters argued that he gave his conservative, safely GOP district an independent voice. Huelskamp’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
They did force a government shutdown in 2013 and a year ago drove Boehner out of Congress.
Huelskamp, 47, grew up on a farm near the small town of Fowler, in southwest Kansas, and served 14 years in the Kansas Senate before winning the congressional seat in 2010.
It wasn’t just farm interests at stake.
Though Marshall shied away from the idea, Rich Felts, president of the Kansas Farm Bureau, said the race is a referendum on the tea party.
Nine of those House races were in Johnson County, the state’s most populous, where many residents have cherished their public schools for decades.
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Those institutions rely on the kind of government spending Huelskamp has railed against.
