2016 Kansas primary results: U.S. Senate, Congressional Districts 3 and 4

Updated 12:39 a.m.

While not drawing as much attention as the high-stakes Republican showdown between Tim Huelskamp and Roger Marshall in Kansas’ 1st Congressional District, voters narrowed down the field in the 3rd and 4th congressional district and the U.S. Senate race.

U.S. House 4th District – Dan Giroux prevailed in a tight race with Robert Tillman to carry the Democrats’ banner in the Nov. 8 election. Giroux, who won 52-48, will face Republican incumbent Rep. Mike Pompeo and probably Miranda Allen, who filed signatures on Monday to get on the ballot as an independent.

Both of the Democratic candidates came to the race via the courts; Giroux, a lawyer and former prosecutor, and Tillman, a retired court-services officer.

Giroux ran a much more aggressive race, vastly out-raising Tillman’s low-key campaign and benefiting from a mailer paid for by the state Democratic Party. Tillman sought to ride name recognition from his the primary victory in the 4th District race four years ago.

The key policy difference between the two was that Tillman strongly supports a woman’s right to choose abortion while Giroux generally opposes abortion, except in cases of rape, incest or to protect the health of the mother.

U.S. House 3rd District – Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder of Overland Park easily fended off a primary challenge from his right flank.

His opponent, retired Army officer Greg Goode of Louisburg, ran on a platform of staunch opposition to abortion and gay rights.

Yoder won 64-36 percent.

By most lights, Yoder is considered conservative, but not as much as Goode, who told the Kansas City Star he thinks Tea Party Republicanism is too liberal. The Star opined that the challenge might actually help Yoder in November by making him look more centrist in a right-center-leaning district.

On the Democratic side, Jay Sidie of Mission Woods beat Nathaniel McLaughlin of Kansas City in a roller-coaster race. In the end, Sidie came away with 42 percent of the votes, to 36 percent for McLaughlin. Reggie Marselus of Lenexa trailed the frontrunners with 22 percent.

National Democrats think they might have a chance of unseating the incumbent if they can tie Yoder to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Gov. Sam Brownback, whose approval rating has tumbled to the teens since his 2014 re-election.

U.S. Senate – As expected, incumbent U.S. Senator Jerry Moran blew out his little-known challenger, D.J. Smith. The result was 79-21 percent with a bare handful of votes uncounted.

On the Democratic side of the Senate race, Patrick Wiesner cruised to a win over Monique Singh, 63-37 percent.

This story was originally published August 2, 2016 at 7:57 PM with the headline "2016 Kansas primary results: U.S. Senate, Congressional Districts 3 and 4."