LAWRENCE – Republican Craig Bowser says it’s “time for our party to stand together and move forward” after defeating incumbent Sen. Dennis Pyle and Rep. John Eplee in the primary Tuesday night.
Political scientist Bob Beatty of Washburn University called it the “most controversial” primary campaign of the year.
Bowser, a U.S. Army Reserve veteran from Holton, won 41% of the vote in a primary filled with drama and PAC spending. Elpee of Atchison came in second with 37% and Pyle of Hiawatha came in last with 23%.
“I want to congratulate my opponents on a hard-fought campaign,” Bowser said in a statement on his Facebook campaign page. “Now is the time for our party to stand together and move forward. We will do great things for the district and the state. God bless America.”
Pyle angered Republicans in the 1st District, which he has represented for 20 years, when he ran for governor as an independent in 2022. Republicans accuse Pyle of splitting the Republican vote and helping Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly win re-election. In a television ad from the Kansas Chamber PAC, Pyle says, “I planned to split the vote,” and claims Pyle aligned himself with Kelly and President Joe Biden in a district where former President Donald Trump won with nearly 66% of the vote in 2020 and Kelly lost with nearly 40% in 2022.
In the months leading up to the primaries, voters were inundated with emails, advertisements, text messages and phone calls.
Emails sponsored by Elpee portray Bowser as a “fake conservative” who “wants to send our tax dollars to communist Venezuela… just like Joe Biden.”
Bowser countered with a flood of text messages claiming that Elpee’s June 10 car accident was caused by drunk driving.
“It was a very intense race,” Beatty said, “with quite a bit of negativity.”
In an interview Wednesday, Eplee said, “The people of Kansas have made their wish known.” However, he said the publicity surrounding his accident was “regrettable” and wrong.
Elpee also said he was not surprised that Pyle lost.
“His voting habits last year were not Republican, and leaving the party was a bad move,” Elpee said.
Kelly and Pyle went to Holton and Hiawatha on July 2 to promote their bipartisan efforts on the tax reform bill. Kelly spoke about her time as a senator and said if she needed a bipartisan co-signer, she would go to Pyle.
Pyle and Bowser did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
