TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Republican Sen. Pat Roberts has shaken up his struggling re-election team in Kansas, moving aside a longtime confidante as campaign manager and getting help from a national operative in a race that’s suddenly a battleground in the fight for Senate control.
The campaign overhaul comes after Roberts’ bruising primary fight and the stunning attempt by his Democratic challenger this week to cancel his candidacy in the face of a strong bid by an independent candidate.
Roberts confirmed Friday that Leroy Towns – who the three-term Senator once described as his “alter ego” – has stepped down as executive campaign manager, though he will remain as a consultant. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is sending in a seasoned consultant, Chris LaCivita, and Roberts’ campaign began directing reporters’ calls to him.
The campaign also has a new director for its grassroots operations, Alan Cobb, previously a senior campaign adviser to Republican Rep. Mike Pompeo of Kansas. Cobb is a former state director and national official with Americans for Prosperity, the anti-tax, small government group backed by conservative billionaire-donors Charles and David Koch.
“We are going to be very aggressive now that it has become a national campaign,” Roberts said before a political forum sponsored by the Kansas Chamber of Commerce in Wichita.
The 78-year-old incumbent looked vulnerable after winning only 48 percent of the vote in the August primary against a tea party opponent. The race also was roiled this week by the Democratic challenger’s attempt to withdraw, a move that appeared to be aimed at giving a viable independent candidate a better shot at defeating Roberts.
Republicans need a net gain of six seats in the midterm election to take the majority in the chamber, and they’ve always counted on holding Roberts’ seat.
Towns served as Roberts’ chief of staff for more than 20 years, both when Roberts was in the House and after his election to the Senate in 1996, and Towns remained a political adviser after leaving the senator’s congressional staff in 2002.
Towns did not immediately return telephone messages Friday seeking information about changes within the campaign, but Roberts said Towns left voluntarily.
“He will continue as a valuable consultant,” Robert said.
Asked who will run his campaign, Roberts would say only that he has “a team.” The NRSC chairman is fellow Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran.
The shake-up in Roberts’ campaign came as the independent candidate, Greg Orman, a 45-year-old businessman from the Kansas City suburb of Olathe, began receiving national attention – and positioning himself as a potential kingmaker if he were elected to a divided Senate. He has said he would caucus with whichever party has a majority.
Some Democrats helped nudge their nominee, Chad Taylor, a 40-year-old, Topeka-area prosecutor, into withdrawing from the race Wednesday.
But Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a conservative Republican backing Roberts’ re-election bid, declared that Taylor’s name would remain on the ballot because Taylor hadn’t met a legal requirement to declare publicly that he was unable to fulfill the duties of the office if elected. Taylor is promising to challenge the decision.
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Online:
Pat Roberts campaign: http://www.robertsforsenate.com
Greg Orman campaign: http://www.ormanforsenate.com/
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Follow John Hanna on Twitter at https://twitter.com/apjdhanna
Hegeman reported from Wichita, Kan. Associated Press writer Donna Cassata in Washington, D.C., also contributed this report.