Court rebuffs Kan. GOP on Senate race

Kansas Democrats won’t be forced to field a candidate in the state’s pivotal Senate race, a state court ruled Wednesday, dealing a blow to Republicans hoping to protect Sen. Pat Roberts — and possibly their odds of winning the majority in November.

The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel in Kansas district court cements the race as a virtual head-to-head contest between Roberts and independent Greg Orman.

Both parties have been intensely eying the court ruling, given the prospect of a Democratic candidate eating into Orman’s support. A USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll released earlier Wednesday underscored the dynamic, showing Orman narrowly ahead of Roberts with no Democrat included on the ballot.

Democrats celebrated the withdrawal of their underfunded nominee, Chad Taylor, earlier this month, noting that it was likely to unify the anti-Roberts vote behind Orman, a wealthy businessman who once belonged to each major party but now disavows both.

(Also on POLITICO: Poll: Republicans trail in Kansas)

Orman hasn’t declared with which party he’d ally if he wins, and if Republicans fight Democrats to a draw in November, his decision could determine which party controls the Senate in January. Republicans aren’t hedging their bets, assailing Orman as a Democrat in disguise, an Obamacare supporter who prefers “amnesty” for undocumented immigrants. They repeated those assertions after Wednesday’s ruling.

“There is a Democrat in the race, a liberal one,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Brook Hougesen. “His name is Greg Orman.”

The court’s decision was largely on technical grounds. David Orel, the Democrat who sued demanding the opportunity to vote for a party nominee, didn’t show up in court on Monday, when he was due to argue his case. As a result, Secretary of State Kris Kobach — a Republican who attempted to intervene on Orel’s behalf — was denied standing by the court.

The court added that even if Orel had shown up, it was likely to deny his petition because he couldn’t demonstrate he had been harmed in a specific way by the lack of a Democratic candidate.

(Also on POLITICO: North Carolina voting changes blocked)

“Put simply, if Mr. Orel has been ‘harmed,’ it is the exact same ‘harm’ affecting all other citizens of Kansas who have registered to vote and intend to vote: he cannot vote for a Democrat nominee at the general election,” the court ruled.

The decision is a setback for Kobach, who fought to force Democrats to put a candidate on the ballot after Taylor withdrew. Kansas election law appears to require that parties replace nominees who withdraw, Kobach said.

Kobach effectively conceded defeat Wednesday, ordering county elections officials to begin printing general election ballots without a Democratic candidate listed.

The court fight — first over Taylor’s withdrawal and then over Kobach’s effort to force another Democrat onto the ballot — has scrambled the election process in Kansas and threatened to delay the printing of ballots for weeks, well past the federal requirement that they be delivered to overseas and military voters more than 45 days before the election....