Highlights from Tuesday’s primary elections in Missouri, Kansas, Michigan and Washington:
TOP OF THE TICKET
Republican Sen. Pat Roberts beat back a primary challenge from radiologist Milton Wolf in his bid for re-nomination in Kansas, as Senate incumbents continued their unbeaten streak in this year’s midterm elections.
Roberts, seeking a fourth term in the Senate, questioned Wolf’s fitness for office by running television ads focused on the 43-year-old’s posting in 2010 of X-ray images of patients’ injuries on his Facebook page. They included images of fatal gunshot wounds and comments intended to be humorous, for which Wolf apologized.
Along with his tea party supporters, Wolf cast the 78-year-old Roberts as a senator who barely lives in the state he represents in Washington. They got a boost from Roberts when he told a radio interviewer last month, “Every time I get an opponent – uh, I mean, every time I get a chance – I’m home.”
SENATE CONTROL
Roberts is all but a lock to return to Washington on Election Day. Kansas is a reliably Republican state and his race isn’t among the roughly 10 expected to determine control of the Senate.