Marshall defeats Kobach in Kansas
‘Squad’ member Tlaib advances in Michigan; Mcsally to face Kelly in Arizona
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas Republicans on Tuesday nominated Rep. Roger Marshall for the Senate over conservative Kris Kobach, heeding the party establishment’s advice.
Marshall prevailed comfortably in a crowded primary field with the backing of major farm, business and anti-abortion groups but without a pre-election endorsement from President Donald Trump sought by Senate Majority Mitch Mcconnell and others for the two-term congressman for western and central Kansas. Marshall overcame Kobach’s reputation as a conservative firebrand and informal adviser to Trump.
Marshall will face Democratic state Sen. Barbara Bollier, a former lifelong moderate Republican who received national attention at the end of 2018 by switching parties.
Kobach, the former Kansas secretary of state, is nationally known for advocating restrictive immigration policies and alienated independent and moderate GOP voters in losing the Kansas governor’s race in 2018. Marshall and his allies made that loss a key issue as he and Kobach battled atop the GOP field.
In other developments Tuesday:
Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, part of a “squad” of first-term liberal women of color, narrowly topped a crowded primary field to win the 13th District, which includes parts of heavily Democratic Detroit. She now faces a rematch with her closest challenger in 2018, City Council president Brenda Jones.
Cori Bush, a onetime homeless woman who led protests following a white police officer’s fatal shooting of a Black 18-year-old in Ferguson, ousted longtime Rep. William Lacy Clay on Tuesday in Missouri’s Democratic primary, ending a political dynasty that has spanned more than a half-century. Bush’s victory came in a rematch of 2018, when she failed to capitalize on a national Democratic wave that favored political newcomers such as Bush’s friend, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-cortez.
U.S. Sen. Martha Mcsally of Arizona
defeated a conservative businessman who challenged her for the Republican nomination to finish the late John Mccain’s U.S. Senate term. She will face Democrat Mark Kelly, a retired astronaut and the husband of former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, in November.
An Iraq War veteran whose family started the Meijer chain of stores won the Republican primary for the 3rd Congressional District in western Michigan. In November, 32-year-old Peter Meijer will face Democrat Hillary Scholten for the seat left open by the retirement of five-term Rep. Justin Amash, a Libertarian who left the GOP last year and backed the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee advanced Tuesday in Washington’s primary election as he seeks to become the first incumbent elected to a third term in the state in more than 40 years. He’ll face a small-town police chief in the fall. Loren Culp, who finished a distant second in the state’s “top two” primary, campaigned against Inslee’s coronavirus restrictions like mandatory masks, saying they infringed on people’s constitutional rights.