This move could present Roberts with a serious threat against Greg Orman. Dem's withdrawal poses threat to Roberts

A Democratic candidate for the Senate seat in Kansas has withdrawn from the race, paving the way for a serious third-party contender against longtime Republican Sen. Pat Roberts — and jolting Republicans’ calculus for retaking the Senate.

Chad Taylor, a little-known and underfunded candidate who won the Democratic nomination last month, told the Kansas secretary of state’s office Wednesday afternoon that he is withdrawing from the race, a spokeswoman for the office said. That move could present Roberts with a strong reelection challenge from businessman Greg Orman, an independent candidate who, according to one recent poll, led Roberts in a head-to-head matchup.


Orman, 45, has shown some fundraising prowess throughout the campaign, raising more than $670,000 through mid-July.

The development could have serious implications in the battle for control of the Senate. Once viewed as a GOP lock, Kansas may now emerge as a critical race in determining whether Republicans return to power for the first time in nearly a decade. Republican outside groups — which had been mainly focused on four red states and battlegrounds states like Iowa, Colorado and New Hampshire — may be forced to spend money to save Roberts’ seat.

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A mid-August poll of likely voters from Democratic firm Public Policy Polling showed Orman beating Roberts 43-33 in a head-to-head matchup, while Taylor was shown losing narrowly. Randy Batson, a Libertarian candidate, will also be on the ballot.

Roberts’ camp quickly sought to cast Orman as a Democrat in disguise, calling Taylor’s withdrawal a “corrupt bargain between Greg Orman and national Democrats including Senator Harry Reid that disenfranchises Kansas Democrats.”

“Orman is the choice of liberal Democrats and he can no longer hide behind an independent smokescreen,” the Republican’s campaign said in a statement.

Travis Smith of Axiom Strategies, a Roberts consultant, said the campaign will give Orman, whom he said wasn’t really taken seriously as a contender until Taylor withdrew, a “full, thorough vetting.”

“I don’t think he can get away with it,” Smith said.

Orman has spent time as both a Democrat and Republican, but he emphasizes that he’s spent more of his life as an independent or unaffiliated voter — and most of his political donations have gone to independent candidates.

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While Kansas is a solidly GOP state, the rise of the tea party has alienated many moderates in a state with a long-standing tradition of centrist lawmakers. As the state GOP has moved sharply to the right, it has created an opening — not just for Orman, but also Democrat Paul Davis in this year’s governor’s race against conservative incumbent Sam Brownback.

Orman has vowed not to vote for either of party’s standard-bearer as Senate leader. His campaign website describes North Dakota Democrat Heidi Heitkamp and Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski as potential leaders he could support, willing to buck their party “to vote for what is right.”

“Both Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell have been too partisan for far too long to earn my vote for majority leader,” he has said.

Earlier Wednesday, Orman touted the endorsement of a group of moderate Republican former lawmakers who said they viewed Roberts as too much of a Washington fixture to adequately represent Kansas.

Even though Orman won’t say which party he would caucus with, Republicans say they are unwilling to gamble on him siding with the GOP. Aware of the stakes, Orman told reporters Wednesday that he’s eyeing the prospect that the major parties battle each other to a draw in Senate contests, leaving him to decide which party will control the Senate.

“There’s a reasonable chance that neither party will have a majority. I will sit down with both sides,” he said. “Ultimately, I’m going to caucus with the party that’s … most willing to address some of the biggest issues we have.”

Orman said that position of influence could help him “hold the majority accountable.”

If one party holds a clear majority after the November elections, he added, it’d be in Kansas’ interest to caucus with that party.

Orman, who earned an economics degree from Princeton University and has a long background running lighting companies, describes himself as a moderate Republican cut from the same cloth as Bob Dole. He decries “extreme” positions he says both major parties have come to espouse. He calls Obamacare an expansion of a “broken system” but adds that he appreciates some of its insurance market reforms. Orman also favors a balanced federal budget, which he says aligns him with traditional Republican views.

Since 2004, Orman has run Denali Partners, a business services company.