“This is spitefulness on the part of the establishment”, U.S. Rep. Steve King, of Iowa, another tea party Republican, said after a Huelskamp campaign town hall in St. Marys.
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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. A three-term House member who came to Washington in the Tea Party wave of 2010, he was viewed-depending on who you are-either as a principled leader among the most conservative House Republicans or as a troublemaking rabble-rouser who made the flawless the enemy of the good. As with the other two races, redistricting played a role.
But Huelskamp appeared to have outlasted that issue when Boehner resigned in October. “If you listen for reasons he voted as he has, I think you will find he is doing the best he can for Kansas”.
In some ways, the differences in the candidates and their supporters reflected the divide within Republican ranks on Capitol Hill.
Republican gubernatorial candidates John Brunner, Eric Greitens, Catherine Hanaway and Peter Kinder had together already spent more than $22 million as of about two weeks before the election. Frustrations with Huelskamp were clear then and they continue to be evident today. Marshall received endorsements from major agriculture groups and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Marshall and Huelskamp fought in debates and over the airwaves.
Candidates of unrecognized parties must run as independents and file by petition. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach dismissed Marshall’s claim. Instead, they’re backing Marshall. Both candidates oppose abortion.
Marshall cast Huelskamp as too unyielding and combative, saying his clashes with Boehner and others had hurt the district.
Democrats and Republicans were choosing their nominees for the U.S. Senate, congressional races, legislative seats and hundreds of county offices. His absence on the Agriculture Committee became an issue in his farm-heavy district.
Huelskamp had asserted that he would be reappointed to the Agriculture Committee under House Speaker Paul Ryan.
The race drew millions of dollars in outside money, including $400,000 from the U.S. Chamber alone. Often it’s been an establishment-friendly incumbent scrambling to fend off a primary election challenger from the right.
It’s the only race in the country where the business lobby was actively working to defeat a Republican incumbent. Only two Republican incumbents have lost House races this year.
Katie Sawyer, a 32-year-old college career services director and farmer, said Huelskamp “forgets that there are people back home who rely on him to represent them”. A central issue is Huelskamp’s being booted from the House Agriculture Committee late in 2012 amid disputes with GOP leaders over farm and fiscal legislation. They nearly forced the government to default on its debt in 2011 and go over the “fiscal cliff” in 2012.
U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran is seeking a second, six-year term and is expected to win easily over a largely unknown opponent, D.J. Smith, of Osawatomie, in the GOP primary. The Kansas Farm Bureau refrained from supporting Huelskamp this year, as they did two years ago.
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The district’s boundaries were redrawn after the 2010 Census to reflect the loss of population in far western Kansas.
