Whitmer, other area incumbents lose House primaries

Tuesday’s primary election brought a surprising defeat for Kansas Rep. John Whitmer, R-Wichita, who lost to J.C. Moore by roughly 50 votes, according to unofficial election results.

Other south-central Kansas incumbents who appeared to have lost their Republican primaries include Mary Martha Good, Steve Becker, Anita Judd-Jenkins and Don Schroeder.

The primary races came after two years of work by a more-moderate Legislature. In that time, lawmakers largely rolled back former Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax cuts and approved hundreds of millions in new spending for public schools.

In several instances, moderate Republican incumbents faced challenges from more-conservative opponents.

The race between Whitmer and Moore, a retired educator with a doctorate in chemistry, flipped that trend with a moderate running against a more-conservative incumbent.

Moore, who ran unsuccessfully for the House twice in other districts, will face Democratic nominee Clifton Beck in the Nov. 6 general election. Moore describes himself as a fiscal conservative.

“I want the state to be fiscally responsible,” Moore said Tuesday night. “We have just squandered our resources and made bad decisions. I had four priorities: fiscal responsibility, excellent schools, great roads and expansion of KanCare.”

Reached by phone Tuesday, Whitmer said he plans to run again in two years.

“I will run again based on principle and I will run based on record,” Whitmer said. “I’m not going to do personal attacks and make stuff up and slander him on a bunch of lies.”

Whitmer said a mailer sent out by Moore’s campaign on Friday likely played a role in his defeat. He said the mailer falsely said that he and his wife didn’t pay property taxes.

Moore said he “would not have said that unless I had the records in my hands that said that.”

The Sedgwick County property taxes website was down for routine maintenance Tuesday night.

Whitmer, a small business owner from Wichita, has been a stalwart conservative House member during his two terms. He has said he wants to lower income taxes by shrinking state government and opposing what he calls reckless spending.

A strong supporter of Kris Kobach, Whitmer was at Kobach’s election watch party Tuesday night.

During his time in the House, Whitmer co-sponsored a bill to prosecute “swatting” as murder, prompted criticism with plans for a transgender bathroom bill and said that schools shouldn’t get more money until they show they are using it effectively.

He has joined calls for Kansas to pass a constitutional amendment that would allow the state legislature — rather than the state Supreme Court — to decide whether school funding is adequate.

Moore, who was endorsed by former Kansas Republican governors Mike Hayden and Bill Graves, has painted himself as more moderate than Whitmer.

“When I get to Topeka, I’m going to work as hard as I can to make sure those goals are made,” he said.

In other south-central Kansas House races:

▪ Incumbent Mary Martha Good lost to Will Carpenter in a Republican primary that was a rematch of 2016, when Good defeated Carpenter, the incumbent at the time. Good won in 2016 by fewer than 100 votes. Carpenter won Tuesday by nearly 600 votes.

Carpenter held endorsements from Kansans for Life, the Kansas Farm Bureau and the National Rifle Association. Good, a retired educator, was endorsed by the Kansas National Education Association.

Tuesday night, Carpenter said his voting record, compared with Good’s, played a role in his win.

“I’m excited to get back to work and I think my message got out there and I think people resonated with it,” Carpenter said. “I’m just a commonsense conservative and that’s all I’ve been and that’s what I’ll be.”

▪ Unofficial election results for House District 104 show businessman Paul Waggoner defeating Rep. Steve Becker by a single vote. Waggoner ran to the right of Becker, who is seen as a more-moderate Republican.

Leading up to the election, Waggoner was critical of the Kansas Supreme Court, which he says shows a tendency toward liberal judicial activism, especially when it comes to school funding. He had the backing of Kansans for Life.

Becker has rejected criticism of his conservative credentials. He says he has voted with the top Republican, the speaker of the House, more than nine times out of 10 over the past two years. He also says he is “100% Pro-Life and always have been.”

▪ In District 80, incumbent Judd-Jenkins lost to Bill Rhiley. There will be no general election contest. Judd-Jenkins ran on promises to bolster public education, balance Kansas’ budget and create a fair tax code.

▪ In District 74, incumbent Don Schroeder appeared to have lost to Stephen Owens, with 36 of the 38 precincts reporting their votes to the secretary of state’s website by midnight Tuesday. There is no general election contest.

In Wichita races:

▪ Renee Erickson, a retired educator, won against attorney Jeff Kennedy in the Republican primary for District 87. Erickson has said she wants to lower burdensome tax rates that put Kansas at an economic disadvantage. Kennedy and Erickson were at odds on state spending — Kennedy said it should increase while Erickson said it should decrease — and whether the state should take money from the state highway fund. There is no Democratic opponent, so Erickson will replace Roger Elliott, who is retiring.

▪ In House District 97, Nick Hoheisel won against Michael Walker in the race to replace Les Osterman, who is retiring. Hoheisel will face Democrat Rebecca Jenek in the general election.

Both Hoheisel and Walker expressed concerns about tax rates. Walker wants to restore the 2012 tax cuts, while Hoheisel says residents can’t afford more “irresponsible tax increases or experiments.”

▪ In House District 89, Rep. K.C. Ohaebosim kept his seat, overcoming challengers Marty Keenan and LeSean Tarkington. He will not face a general election contest.

▪ In District 86, House Minority Leader Jim Ward defeated challenger Alexander Vulgamore with 86 percent of the vote. He will face Republican Jim Price in the general election.

▪ Incumbent Daniel Hawkins also beat challenger James Breitenbach in District 93 with 76 percent of the vote. He will face Democrat Jennifer Winn in November.

This story was originally published August 8, 2018 at 12:17 AM.