Less than a week after Democratic nominee Chad Taylor announced his withdrawal from the race for Pat Roberts’s Senate seat, the first new poll of the race shows the veteran Republican Senator trailing Independent candidate Greg Orman:
Democratic nominee Chad Taylor, who said he would withdraw from the race last week but whom Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) has ruled must remain on the ballot in November, still attracted 10 percent of the vote.
Obviously, if Taylor does stay on the ballot it could potentially help Roberts by drawing votes away from Orman in what looks like it is going to be a very close race. However, it seems likely that support for Taylor will drop as we get closer to the Election Day, especially since Taylor will not be campaigning between now and Election Day. This being Kansas, you still have to give the edge to the Republican given the fact that the GOP has not lost a Senate race in the state since the 1930s. However, there do seem to be some factors coming together that place both Roberts and Kansas’s Republican Governor Sam Brownback in jeopardy. That being said, this is only one poll and it will take at least a few more before we know for sure if Kansas is competitive or not.
