Robert Tillman blames Kansas Democrats’ mailer in primary loss to Dan Giroux

Robert Tillman blames a postcard paid for by the Kansas Democratic Party for his defeat in the 4th Congressional District primary.

Tillman, a retired court services officer, lost Tuesday’s Democratic primary to attorney Dan Giroux by 549 votes. He won 14 out of the district’s 16 counties, but lost Sedgwick County by 872 votes.

Giroux will face incumbent U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo, a Republican, in the November general election.

The state Democratic Party sent out a mailer on Giroux’s behalf the weekend before the primary vote.

The mailer told voters “On August 2, please vote for Dan Giroux,” identifying him as a “Democratic Candidate For Congress” and listing his promises to protect small businesses and pass a fiscally responsible budget.

The mailer notes that it was paid for by the Kansas Democratic Party and authorized by Giroux’s campaign.

“In my opinion, it cost me the election,” Tillman said Thursday.

“That really gave him … free advertising, which I did not have.”

Kerry Gooch, the executive director of the Kansas Democratic Party, said that the party extended an offer to each of their congressional candidates “and Dan was one of the only ones who took it up.”

Asked whether the mailers should be seen as the party endorsing Giroux over Tillman, Gooch replied, “No, not at all,” and stressed that Tillman was afforded the same opportunity.

“It would be used for the primary opponent if the primary opponent wanted one, too. … It could say ‘Vote Tillman’ if Tillman would have wanted one,” he said.

“They did not do that,” Tillman said.

Tillman made unsuccessful runs for the seat in 2010 and 2012. He said that when he contacted the state party and asked them for help in those years “they told me they could not help me because it was a state election and they told me they could have no part in that.”

“So I am surprised and angry that the state Democratic Party helped Giroux and did not help me,” he said.

Tillman said that he ran for office to “help my local constituents in the Wichita area … and to help African-Americans in general.” He said that he had not yet expressed his concerns about the mailers to state party officials.

State Rep. John Carmichael, D-Wichita, who previously served as the state party’s secretary, said that over the years the party’s policies regarding use of official mailers has changed.

“It’s been a decision that’s been in the hands of the executive director and generally the state party chair,” Carmichael said, explaining that the party’s current leadership has been more willing to let candidates use official party mailers than past leadership teams.

In a second interview, Gooch said that the party offers numerous services to candidates and that he and other party officials made several attempts to contact Tillman by phone to talk about that.

“There were multiple attempts from multiple people trying to get ahold of him to offer any type of help for his campaign, and we never heard back about anything,” Gooch said.

Gooch said that there is a $5,000 federal contribution limit for how much the party can give federal candidates for the primary.

“And that’s roughly about what that mailer was,” Gooch said.

Gooch pushed back on the notion that the mailer proved decisive in the race, saying the work of the candidates is what made the difference in the race.

“If you’ve seen one candidate out campaigning and not seen the other one, that’s probably why this race had this outcome,” he said.

Giroux did not immediately offer a comment on the matter. In a news release sent out the day after the election, Giroux thanked Tillman for “for running a clean, positive campaign.”

“We both focused on issues important to Kansas Democrats – indeed all Kansans – and I truly appreciate Robert’s continued dedication to our democratic process,” Giroux said in the release.

In addition to the party support, Giroux appears to have had a pretty significant money advantage over Tillman.

Giroux’s campaign raised more than $171,000 between Oct. 1 and July 13, according to his most recent filing with the Federal Election Commission. He transferred $2,100 of that to the state party in February and spent more than $116,000 on campaign expenses.

Tillman does not appear to have filed a July report with the Federal Election Commission for this election. His most recent report in the FEC’s database is from his 2012 campaign, which was largely self-funded.

That year Tillman only raised $2,120 and ended up loaning his campaign more than $43,000 of his own money.

This story was originally published August 5, 2016 at 6:47 AM.