A Tea Party group in Kansas said it may encourage Milton Wolf to run in the Republican primary on Aug. 2 against first-term Sen. Jerry Moran, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees USDA and FDA funding.
Wolf lost the 2014 primary to Pat Roberts, who became Senate Agriculture Committee chairman after winning the general election. Politico cited a statement by the Tea Party Patriots Citizen Fund that blasted Moran for calling on the Senate to consider the nomination of Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court. “Moran’s remarks signify a marked break with Senate Republican leadership,” said Politico. The Tea Party group said Moran’s comments were “outrageous” and that he should reconsider them.
A reliable conservative vote, Moran was elected to the Senate in 2010 after eight terms in the House representing the “Big First” district, which covers the western two-thirds of Kansas. The primary election is likely to be the real election — Kansas is an overwhelmingly conservative and Republican state. The website Sabato’s Cyrstal Ball rates the Senate seat as “safe Republican.”