Tuesday’s Primary Results

Kansas While Gov. Sam Brownback (R) looked to be the weakest Kansas Republican statewide official, it was Sen. Pat Roberts (R) who won re-nomination with the smallest vote percentage. Brownback defeated Republican challenger Jennifer Winn, 63-37 percent, to claim re-nomination. Sen. Roberts, running for a fourth consecutive term, won his primary with just 48 percent of the vote. Physician Milton Wolf placed second with 41 percent. Two other candidates combined to score 11 percent. For the Democrats, Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor won a relatively close nomination battle, 53-47 percent, over attorney Patrick Wiesner. In the 1st Congressional District, Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R) survived a scare from former school superintendent Alan LaPolice. The Congressman garnered only 54 percent of the vote within his own party. Fourth District Rep. Mike Pompeo (R) fared considerably better in his challenge battle from a much tougher opponent. The two-term Congressman won re-nomination over former 16-year congressional veteran Todd Tiahrt (R), 63-37 percent. Rep. Pompeo will now cruise to re-election in November. Michigan Freshman Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R), a Tea Party favorite tabbed as an "accidental Congressman" when he was elected in 2012 – after then-Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Livonia) was disqualified from the ballot – lost his bid for re-nomination, as predicted. Attorney David Trott, brandishing endorsements from virtually all key state Republican leaders and overwhelming the incumbent in fundraising, won a huge 66-34 percent win in the 11th District. Trott now faces former State Department official Bobby McKenzie, who barely won (by a 671 vote margin) the Democratic primary against three opponents. Trott is the clear favorite to carry the open seat in November. In the other incumbent challenge, controversial Tea Party-backed Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI-3) turned back a tough and well organized campaign effort from businessman Brian Ellis. Amash notched a 57-43 percent margin to win the party nomination for a third term in office. In what was thought to be the closest race going into the primary vote, state Sen. John Moolenaar (R) rather easily defeated businessmen Paul Mitchell and Peter Konetchy, 52-37-11 percent. For most of the campaign Mitchell was either running ahead or tied with Moolenaar, a veteran office holder, in political polling. Mr. Moolenaar will now skate through the general election and succeed retiring House Ways & Means Committee chairman Dave Camp (R-MI-4). In the open 8th Congressional District, with Rep. Mike Rogers (R) leaving Congress to host a new national radio program, former state Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop easily won the Republican nomination, 60-40 percent, against state Rep. Tom McMillin. Also as forecasted for the Democratic side, Ingham County Treasurer Eric Schertzing defeated three opponents with 43 percent of the vote after trailing most of election night. Bishop now becomes a big favorite for the general election. In the uncertain 14th District, Rep. Gary Peters (D-Bloomington Township) is vacating his seat to run for Senate and state Rep. Rudy Hobbs and Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence are still in a race that is too close to call with all of the precincts reporting. Absentee and provisional ballots will likely decide the final outcome. Only 2,393 votes separate the two, with Lawrence leading. Former U.S. Rep. Hansen Clarke (D-MI-13) finished third. The eventual winner will claim the seat in November. Other victors were Debbie Dingell (D) in the open 12th District, vying to succeed her retiring husband, 59-year congressional veteran John Dingell (D). She will cruise in the general election. Incumbents Dan Benishek (R-MI-1), Fred Upton (R-MI-6), Tim Walberg (R-MI-7), and John Conyers (D-MI-13) all easily outpaced intra-party challengers. Rep. Peters and former Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land (R) were unopposed in their respective primaries for the open U.S. Senate contest, as were Gov. Rick Snyder (R) and former Rep. Mark Schauer (D-MI-7) in the gubernatorial race. Missouri Unlike several incumbents in other states with primaries, Missouri members faced little to no opposition for re-nomination.  While Reps. Lacy Clay (D-MO-1), Ann Wagner (R-MO-02) and Jason Smith (R-MO-08) ran uncontested, the rest of the delegation posted wins between 62 and 82 percent. Washington The Washington primary will take awhile to completely count because of their vote-by-mail system that allows ballots to be accepted if postmarked on Election Day. The nine House incumbents seeking re-election – Washington does not host either a Senate or a gubernatorial race in 2014 – advanced to the general election in the state's top-two jungle primary format. Despite tabulation totals only reaching about half of the number of ballots cast, enough of a statistical pattern exists to project general election qualifiers in most races. All of the incumbents placed first and garnered between a low of 48 percent (Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler-R-WA-3) and a high of 76 percent (Rep. Jim McDermott-D-WA-7). But the big news was in the open central Washington 4th District, where veteran Rep. Doc Hastings (R), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, is retiring. There, two Republican candidates have already been projected as advancing to the general election. Eight Republicans, two Democrats, and two Independents were on the ballot, and simple mathematics would indicate that the Democrats, despite being the minority party in this district, would have a strong chance of qualifying one contender. But, they failed to garner enough votes. Former NFL football player and ex-statewide candidate Clint Didier appears to be placing first in the primary followed closely by former state Agriculture Director Dan Newhouse. By qualifying two Republicans in the general election, the GOP has secured the open seat for the next term regardless of which man wins in November. For more information, please contact David Ashinoff at (202) 547-5013 or ashinoffd@agc.org.