Kansas: Inhofe Takes Sides in Primary, Backing Tiahrt

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Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) waded into the competitive GOP Senate primary in Kansas on Tuesday, picking Rep. Todd Tiahrt over Rep. Jerry Moran in the open-seat race to succeed Sen. Sam Brownback (R).

This is Inhofe’s second endorsement in a high-profile Senate primary in as many weeks. It also means that he and his home-state colleague, Sen. Tom Coburn (R), are on opposite sides in the Kansas race. Coburn is backing Moran.

Inhofe announced last week that he is backing former Florida Speaker Marco Rubio over Gov. Charlie Crist in the Sunshine State’s GOP Senate primary.

“There is a real battle going on in Washington, a philosophical battle between [Speaker] Nancy Pelosi [D-Calif.] and her Washington liberals, who want to tax and spend this country into deeper recession and mind-numbing debt and a group of conservatives who believe we must stop bailing out Wall Street and start investing again in Main Street,” Inhofe said in his latest endorsement. “Todd Tiahrt is one of those conservatives.”

Moran and Tiahrt are battling to be the GOP nominee in Kansas, where the winner of the primary is all but certain to be the next Senator from Kansas.

Moran had received the lion’s share of Member endorsements so far in the campaign, and his supporters include GOP Sens. John Thune (S.D.), John McCain (Ariz.) and Coburn.

Tiahrt also announced this week that former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) has endorsed him, adding to his list of endorsements that includes former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.).