More than 100 Kansas Republican politicians and activists Tuesday threw their collective weight behind Democratic governor candidate Paul Davis, a move designed to inspire other rebellious Republicans to action and weaken the re-election bid of GOP Gov. Sam Brownback.

Public expression of support for Davis by Republicans from across the state at a Topeka news conference exposed anew civil war within the Republican Party between moderates and conservatives. The endorsements also reflected Davis' effort to frame his campaign in bipartisan tones.

"All of us are proud Republicans," said Wint Winter Jr., a former state senator. "We came together because of our common love of Kansas, our commitment to Kansas families and our belief in moderate, common-sense leadership. We are deeply concerned by the direction Sam Brownback is taking Kansas."

In the heavily Republican state, votes of GOP centrists as well as independents could be pivotal in a major-party showdown between Davis and Brownback.

John Milburn, spokesman for Brownback, said in response to the endorsements the governor's attention was on job expansion, investments in education and "preserving the bedrock values of hard work, faith and family."

The campaign of Jennifer Winn, a Haysville businesswoman seeking the Republican nomination against Brownback in the August primary, said the public showing by GOP officials illustrated the "immense unpopularity of Brownback's policies among Kansas voters."

The 104-person list of Davis backers included former Senate Presidents Bud Burke, Dick Bond and Steve Morris, one-time Kansas House Speakers Wendell Lady, Jim Braden and Robert Miller, former Lt. Govs. Gary Sherrer and Shelby Smith, former U.S. Rep. Jan Meyers, prior Kansas GOP chairman Bill Falstad, Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger as well as national GOP delegates, local school board members, mayors, and city and county officials.

"This election should not be about electing a Republican or a Democrat as governor," Bond said. "It must be about electing a moderate, common-sense Kansan for governor. It's time for us to say, 'Enough is enough.'"

"Kansans know that Sam Brownback will try to distract and mislead throughout this campaign. He wants to blame the mess in Kansas on Barack Obama," Bond added. "From our stalled economy to his ill-advised tax policy to our struggling schools — to the Kansas drought. But the only person to blame for this mess is Sam Brownback."

Kelly Arnold, the current chairman of the state Republican Party, described the Republican dissenters as party rejects who buy into Democratic President Obama's program of "higher taxes and bigger government."

"The Kansas Republican Party is disappointed these former elected officials, many of whom were thrown out by the Kansas voters, have decided to endorse the Obama agenda," Arnold said.

Davis, a Lawrence member of the Kansas House, welcomed support from Kansas Republicans — about 40 attended this event — for looking beyond party label for solutions to the state's challenges.

"All of us standing here today know Kansas can do better," Davis said. "We can have better schools and a stronger economy. The values that unite us as Kansans are much bigger than the partisanship and experiment of Sam Brownback."

Conservatives in the Republican ranks, led by Brownback, widened the party's moderate-conservative gap by campaigning against moderate members of the party in 2012.

The conservative wing succeeded in winning enough seats to take control of the Senate from moderates. Conservatives already held sway in the House. The result made it easier for Brownback to impose his will on public policy in Topeka.

Bitterness resulting from the governor's opposition to incumbent senators in his own party remains, and moderates demonstrated with their endorsement of Davis they don't intend to sit on the sideline in 2014.

Republicans joining Republicans for Kansas Values were motivated by disappointment in Brownback's policies to aggressively reduce state income through tax cuts, withdraw resources dedicated to highway projects, block expansion of Medicaid, undermine judicial independence and resist funding of K-12 public schools.

"The place where many of us see and feel the devastating impact of the Brownback experiment the most is in our public schools," said Carol Rupe Linnens, a former member of the Kansas State Board of Education.

On Monday, Brownback was endorsed by former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, a Pennsylvania Republican. Santorum and Brownback served together in the U.S. Senate. Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, of Kansas, previously urged re-election of the governor.

About 25 percent of Kansas voters are registered Democrats, but 46 percent are Republicans. Independents are the state's second largest voting block, and Democrats can only win statewide by tapping into votes across the political spectrum.

Keen Umbehr, the Libertarian Party's nominee for governor, said endorsement of Brownback by Santorum and the endorsements of Davis by dozens of Republicans were impressive.

"But as the former trash man from Wabaunsee County turned lawyer, I am seeking the endorsement of the people of Kansas," Umbehr said. "It is the hard-working, everyday Kansas citizen whom I seek to represent as governor, and come November 4, I hope to have earned their trust and their vote."