TOPEKA, Kan. — Vanquished Republican Senate candidate Milton Wolf is expected to endorse Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback before the midterm elections, GOP sources said Wednesday.
Brownback, a Republican, faces an unexpectedly tough re-election bid in usually deep red Kansas, and the GOP has worked hard to unite the party in the aftermath of a bitter Senate primary. Wolf, a radiologist who affiliates with the Tea Party, lost a competitive race in August to incumbent Sen. Pat Roberts. Republican sources remain doubtful that Wolf will publicly back Roberts, citing hurt feelings left over from a vicious primary.
“Wolf has agreed to endorse Brownback at some point,” a Republican source said.
The Brownback campaign did not respond to an email requesting comment.
Though not considered to hold decisive sway with Kansas conservatives, Wolf’s endorsement could serve as a strong signal that the Republican-conservative rift has healed. Kansas GOP insiders, as well as representatives from the Brownback and Roberts campaigns, have met with Kansas Tea Party leaders to mend fences. Roberts has called many of these individuals personally.
National Tea Party endorsements have poured in for Roberts, among them pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson and talk radio host Laura Ingraham. Expected to roll through Kansas and endorse Roberts this month are Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky, as well as House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
Politico previously reported that Wolf was considering endorsing Roberts’ opponent, independent Greg Orman, if the candidate would agree to caucus with Republicans regardless of which party holds a majority of Senate seats in the next Congress. Their meeting was apparently called off after the public got wind of it. Roberts has trailed Orman in all public polls released since Democratic nominee Chad Taylor removed his name from the ballot at the urging of national party officials.
Republican sources suggest that who Wolf endorses could have nothing to do with politics and the outcome of the Senate race and everything to do with the state medical board investigation launched against him in the aftermath of revelations that he posted pictures of x-rays on his Facebook page and accompanied the images with jokes. Republicans here say the controversy over the matter was the biggest contributing factor to him losing the Senate primary to Roberts.
Either personally or through intermediaries, Wolf requested that Brownback squash the investigation as a condition for endorsing Republicans on the November ballot, GOP sources said. The demands have since been dropped. A message left for Wolf on Tuesday at a medical office where he practices radiology went unreturned as of Wednesday afternoon.
