Roberts primary challenger endorses him

Sen. Pat Roberts’s (R-Kan.) primary challenger, radiologist Milton Wolf, put aside their bitter election battle and offered an unexpected endorsement of the incumbent on Thursday.

{mosads}The endorsement, however, offered faint praise for the senator and framed a vote for him as necessary to taking back control of the Senate and to boost “solid constitutional conservatives” already there.

“Whatever your opinion of Pat Roberts, his re-election to the United States Senate may be the deciding factor that dethrones [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid [D-Nev.] and elevates solid constitutional conservatives like Ted Cruz [R-Texas], Mike Lee [R-Utah] and Rand Paul [R-Ky.] into positions of influence to save America from Barack Obama and so I urge you, I urge all Kansans, to set aside our differences and vote Republican in this critical Senate race on November 4th,” Wolf wrote in a Facebook post.

Roberts has emerged as one of this cycle’s most surprisingly vulnerable incumbents after a bruising primary fight with Wolf that turned personal and nasty on both sides. He and his staff have pursued Wolf’s endorsement since the primary ended, and the challenger had, until now, refused.

Near the end, Roberts’s campaign highlighted a state ethics investigation into a series of off-color Facebook posts Wolf published as evidence of the candidate’s lack of character, and Wolf’s supporters have suggested the investigation was a politically motivated stunt to take the candidate down.

Roberts has faced continued distrust and dissatisfaction from conservatives, and they at one point demanded an end to the investigation dogging Wolf in exchange for their support, a demand that Roberts’s supporters dismissed.

Wolf, in his endorsement, references some of that contentious history, and promises his supporters it won’t go forgotten — hinting at another intraparty battle down the road.

“Be assured that if Pat Roberts is to be re-elected, I will do everything in my power to hold his feet to the fire. And be assured that the fullness of the duplicity, dishonesty and abuse of power that has marked this election will be exposed,” he says. “I have refused to be intimidated by their threats or seduced by their bribes and I won’t start now.”

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), the National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman, is up for reelection next cycle and is expected to face a primary fight. Conservatives have privately expressed fury towards him with the way the primary fight was handled.

Roberts, meanwhile, is facing the toughest reelection fight of his career and remains tied in the polls with his independent challenger, businessman Greg Orman. Wolf’s endorsement could offer him a boost by convincing disaffected conservatives to turn out for him, however.