Kan. GOP primary could help reshape state Senate

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Republican primary voters could reshape the Kansas Legislature as conservatives try to oust moderate GOP incumbents from the state Senate.

   Tuesday's party primaries feature contested races in a majority of the 40 Senate and 125 House districts. Both chambers have Republican majorities.

   The hottest contests were in a dozen Senate districts in which moderate Republican incumbents faced more conservative challengers. They targeted moderates included Senate President Steve Morris, of Hugoton.

   Republican moderates were getting help from the state's largest teacher's union and other labor groups. The conservative push to remake the Senate was backed by the powerful Kansas Chamber of Commerce and the anti-tax, small-government group Americans for Prosperity.

   Secretary of State Kris Kobach has predicted that only 18 percent of the state's 1.7 million registered voters would cast ballots.