The protracted battle over the Republican nomination for the Senate in Mississippi distracted activist conservatives and boosted the chances of third-term Sen Pat Roberts in Kansas, says Roll Call. Roberts, a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, has a Tea Party challenger, Milton Wolf. “Outside spending in Kansas has been on a much smaller scale compared to the Mississippi race. Groups spent more than $5 million on the Mississippi race and so far, outside spending has yet to crack seven figures in Kansas,” says Roll Call.
The primary is next Tuesday. The latest of the scant number of polls in the Senate race, by SurveyUSA/KSN has Roberts leading 50-30 over Wolf with 12 percent undecided and 9 percent split between two other candidates.
“Some Republicans speculate Wolf’s real target is not Roberts but rather the state’s other senator – Jerry Moran,” says Roll Call. “If Wolf has a strong showing against Roberts in the primary, he could try again against Moran in 2016.