(The Associated Press circulated the following story by John Hanna on March 1. Lee Jones is a Union Pacific engineer and a member of BLET Division 336 in Osawatomie, Kan.)
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Former Rep. Jim Slattery expressed interest Saturday in running for the U.S. Senate, while a lesser-known fellow Democrat sought the support of party activists.
Whoever wins the Democratic nomination will challenge Republican incumbent Pat Roberts, who’s seeking his third term and started the year with more than $2.7 million in campaign funds.
One Democrat dropped out of the race last month, leaving Lee Jones, an Overland Park railroad engineer, as the party’s only candidate. While some Democrats expect him to be the nominee, some are speculating that another person will jump into the race.
Slattery, who represented the 2nd District of eastern Kansas in 1983-94 and ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1994, had been mentioned as a potential candidate but said in November he wouldn’t challenge Roberts. Asked Saturday about rumors he is interested again, he said: “I’m interested in many things.”
“I may take another look at it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Jones popped in and out of meetings of small groups of activists who had gathered in Topeka this weekend for Washington Days, the state party’s biggest annual convention.
Some convention participants sported his campaign’s blue stickers on their shirts and jackets. He said he has named a campaign co-chairman and co-chairwoman, former state House Speaker Marvin Barkis and Shirley Jacques, a former member of the Democratic National Committee.
“Things are going well. I’m starting to get some name people behind me,” Jones said. “I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t think I could win.”
But Roberts began the year with more than just a monetary advantage. Nearly half of the state’s voters are registered as Republicans, and they outnumber registered Democrats by about 322,000.
No Democratic presidential candidate has carried Kansas since Lyndon Johnson in 1964, and no Democrat has won an election for the Senate since 1932.
“He’d be very tough to beat,” state House Minority Leader Dennis McKinney, of Greensburg said of Roberts. “He’s been there a while. He knows how to campaign.”
Several Democrats said they doubted anyone will jump into the race besides Jones. But Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley said he expects a contested primary.
“There’s some discussions going on, and I’m sure there will be other people taking a look at it,” Hensley said.
Jones is a former official with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers who lobbied in Topeka and Washington.
He lost the Senate race in 2004, receiving only 27 percent of the vote against GOP incumbent Sam Brownback. He didn’t even win the primary but picked up the nomination from party leaders when the political unknown who had defeated him dropped out.
Some Democrats had talked up Greg Orman, of Olathe, a managing director of a private equity company, who declared his candidacy late last year. Not only did Orman raise about $450,000 in December, but some Roberts backers feared he would be able to contribute much more than that from his own funds.
But Orman abruptly dropped out two weeks ago, ending his campaign with a cryptic statement: “The compromises necessary to be elected were unacceptable.”
He told The Associated Press that positions he would need to take to win made him uncomfortable, but he declined to be specific.
State Democratic Chairman Larry Gates said Saturday that Orman found the run more “lonesome” and “rough and tumble” than he had anticipated.
“He said he had some conflicts with his positions, and I don’t know what those were exactly,” Gates said. “Greg never made any secret about the fact that he was a conservative Democrat, that he was from a business background.”
Gates said party leaders aren’t recruiting another candidate in the wake of Orman’s departure. He said the party would remain neutral in any primary contest.
“Lee’s in, and I’ve had some calls from people who are taking a look,” Gates said, declining to discuss the others. “They’re serious — and Lee’s serious.”