A moderate Republican group in Kansas opposing GOP Sen. Pat Roberts’ re-election bid is also now targeting a Republican in the House, the latest sign of a party split in the deeply red state.
Traditional Republicans for Common Sense, a group of former lawmakers and state leaders, announced that it is endorsing Jim Sherow, the Democratic challenger to incumbent Rep. Tim Huelskamp.
Former state Rep. Jim Yonally, who chairs the group, said his encounters with Huelskamp in the Kansas legislature turned him off.
“He was disruptive and looked for ways to become discordant with his Republican colleagues,” said Yonally.
The endorsement is the latest in a string of Republican spats in Kansas. Aside from Sherow, the 70-member Traditional Republicans for Common Sense also endorsed Greg Orman, who is running as an independent against Roberts.
Meantime, the 100-member Republicans for Kansas Values, also made up of current and former Kansas Republican lawmakers, endorsed Gov. Sam Brownback‘s Democratic challenger, state Rep. Paul Davis.
Kansas Republican politics have always been tumultuous, but tensions grew in 2012 when Brownback endorsed conservative primary challengers of a number of GOP state senators. He now faces anger from many in the party which has spread to the state’s congressional races.
