Tim Huelskamp, Jim Sherow to face off in Kansas 1st District

Rep. Tim Huelskamp claimed a narrow victory in the hard-fought 1st District congressional race against Republican challenger Alan LaPolice.

Huelskamp will face Jim Sherow, a Kansas State University professor and former Manhattan mayor, in the November election.

As the final votes were trickling in from western Kansas, Huelskamp, a two-term congressman, held a steady lead on LaPolice.

LaPolice won Riley and Saline counties, which include Manhattan and Salina; but the only county he won in the district’s western reaches was Finney, which includes Garden City.

In addition to most of western Kansas, Huelskamp took Reno and McPherson counties, which include Hutchinson and McPherson.

Sherow, who held off a half-hearted challenge on the Democratic side of the ballot, said he’s encouraged that LaPolice, a political unknown, was able to draw about 45 percent against a two-term congressman in a Republican primary.

“That shows an incumbent who’s having some problems holding on to his own base,” Sherow said.

The Republican primary hinged mainly on two issues: Huelskamp’s handling of agriculture policy in Congress and LaPolice’s long service as a teacher and school administrator in California.

Both candidates are conservative, but LaPolice sought to paint Huelskamp as a symbol of a dysfunctional Congress and a politician more interested in promoting himself on cable TV news networks than serving the people in his district.

He pounded Huelskamp over the congressman’s dismissal from the influential House Agriculture Committee after fighting with House Republican leaders and Huelskamp’s opposition to a federal farm bill.

Although LaPolice was born and raised in Kansas, Huelskamp derided his long absence from the state – and the fact that he spent most of that time in California – as a sign that his heart isn’t really in Kansas and he’s out of touch with the voters here.

Huelskamp stuck to his guns and characterized his vote on the farm bill as a vote to scale back food stamps, which are linked with agricultural subsidies in congressional action.

He also argued that he is doing what Kansas farmers want most, fighting at every turn against President Obama over dust, water and labor regulations that he thinks would strangle farming.

Huelskamp could not be reached for comment, but the Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund, a political action committee that supported him, issued a congratulatory statement late Tuesday.

“It’s a victory for everyone who believes in personal freedom, economic freedom and a debt-free future,” said the group’s chairman, Benny Beth Martin. “Facing a well-funded establishment opponent bent on preserving corporate welfare, Tim refused to back down.”

LaPolice didn’t raise much money himself, but tirelessly campaigned throughout the district. The 1st District is one of the nation’s largest, covering mostly rural areas of western Kansas and about 60 percent of Kansas counties.

He also got a boost from some outside money when a separate tea party group, the Now or Never Political Action Committee, poured about $267,000 of independent spending into the district, criticizing Huelskamp.

Huelskamp opposes federal subsidies and requirements for alternative energy, which has angered some agrarian interests in the district, especially farmers who want to lease land for wind turbines and corn growers who benefit from ethanol subsidies. It’s the first time in recent memory that a Republican incumbent in the 1st District hasn’t gotten an endorsement from the Kansas Farm Bureau and the Kansas Livestock Association, both of which sat out the primary.

Sherow got an easy ride in the Democratic primary. Bryan Whitney of Wichita filed to run on the Democratic ticket, even though he doesn’t live in the district, to ensure Huelskamp wouldn’t run unopposed as he did in 2012. Whitney did not actively campaign after Sherow entered the race.

Sherow said he is planning an aggressive campaign to boost Democratic turnout and at the same time try to attract Republican moderates and independent voters.

“Huelskamp seems to be helping us out quite a bit on that score,” Sherow said.

In the 2nd District of eastern Kansas, Republican U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins easily won over tea party challenger Joshua Joel Tucker. Jenkins, 51, is seeking her fourth, two-year term in the House. She’ll face Democrat Margie Wakefield and Libertarian Christopher Clemmons in the November election.

U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder of Overland Park was unopposed in the primary. He will face Democrat Kelly Kultala in November.

This story was originally published August 5, 2014 at 7:13 PM with the headline "Tim Huelskamp, Jim Sherow to face off in Kansas 1st District."