Second-term Rep. Roger Marshall easily won the Republican nomination for Senate in Kansas on Tuesday, handily defeating Kris Kobach, the party’s unsuccessful 2018 candidate for governor, in a state that has not elected a Democratic senator since 1932. Democrats nominated state Sen. Barbara Bollier, who switched parties two years ago.
Republicans “can cross Kansas off the list of truly vulnerable states,” said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of the political analysis site Sabato’s Crystal Ball, on social media. Democrats felt Kobach, who built his career pursuing tougher voting laws, would be an easier target in the November 3 general election and perhaps the key to taking control of the Senate. “Marshall is a better general election fit. Bollier is a good Dem candidate but I think she needs a total Trump collapse now,” said Kondik.
The Crystal Ball lists Kansas as a “likely Republican” contest. With 84 percent of precincts reporting, Marshall had 39 percent of the vote in the primary. Kobach was second with 26 percent, followed by nine other candidates.
Marshall and Bollier are running for an open seat. Pat Roberts, 84, the only man to chair the House and Senate Agriculture committees, is retiring after 24 years in the Senate. A doctor from Great Bend, in central Kansas, Marshall is a stalwart conservative. Roberts endorsed him as did an array of state and national GOP leaders. President Trump was neutral in the race.