Three-term Republican Tim Huelskamp lost his primary to OB-GYN Roger Marshall in the sprawling 1st District of Kansas Tuesday night.
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The Kansas Republican only earned 43 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s primary, while Marshall won 57 percent of the vote.
Seven farm groups endorsed Marshall, tagging their opposition to Huelskamp because he was booted from the House Agriculture Committee, his vote against the 2014 Farm Bill and his lack of support for the National Bio and Agro-defense Facility, the Department of Homeland Security’s billion-dollar animal disease research facility being built in the district.
Much of the trouble for Huelskamp began when he was kicked off the House Agriculture Committee in 2012 after opposing then-Speaker John Boehner, a crucial assignment in the farm-rich, sprawling rural district. “Incumbents very rarely lose, which tells us that voters are demanding that Republicans in Congress work together to advance a fiscally conservative agenda to actually end out-of-control spending – not just grandstand”, said ESAFund President Brian Baker. Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Chaka Fattah also lost his primary as he was facing a 29-count federal indictment; he was later convicted and resigned.
“We find it troubling that Congressman Huelskamp’s determination to stand up for his beliefs and constituents led the former House GOP leadership to punish him by stripping him of his key committee assignments”, the Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund, a group supporting Huelskamp, said late Tuesday in a statement.
The pro-business Chamber of Commerce also backed Marshall. Marshall openly criticized Huelskamp’s fight against agricultural subsidies – which, as you might imagine, are popular in Kansas – ideological purity, and unwillingness to make deals; unsurprisingly Marshall has been open about his support for Donald Trump while Huelskamp was more cagey about it (some venues have claimed that Huelskamp is #NeverTrump, but I haven’t been able to corroborate that).
Huelskamp’s reports show that he raised more than $805,000 in contributions, compared with $732,000 for Marshall outside his personal loans. He was later convicted and quit Congress.
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In other Kansas races, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran and U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder in the 3rd District in the Kansas City area cruised to easy GOP primary victories over lesser known opponents. In the 2nd District of eastern Kansas and the 4th District of south-central Kansas, GOP Reps.
