Voice For Liberty

Tiahrt, in close campaign, comes in second

Bob Weeks

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At an election night watch party at the Hilton Hotel in Wichita, supporters of Todd Tiahrt in his campaign for United States Senate were encouraged by early returns from Sedgwick and Johnson counties.

Tiahrt led and won in the state’s two largest counties.

But as western Kansas votes started to be tallied, Jerry Moran‘s margin steadily increased as votes for the popular western Kansas Congressman rolled in. The Associated Press called the race for Moran.

At shortly after midnight, Tiahrt and his wife Vicki entered the hotel ballroom to rousing applause from his supporters.

“We want Todd! We want Todd!” chanted the crowd.

“Thank you very much. I love you guys,” said the candidate. He said we ran a strong campaign.

We have a great country, a resilient county, he said. “Lower taxes, smaller government — this is what Kansans want — and what we campaigned on.” He said that he won the third and fourth Congressional districts. The win by Tiahrt in Johnson County was unexpected by most observers.

He thanked his supporters and said he was sorry that he didn’t win.

Addressing the audience, Vicki Tiahrt thanked the supporters and volunteers. “We are winners tonight,” she said.

After his speech, Tiahrt said that his goal is to have a Republican Senator elected from Kansas, so he will be calling Jerry Moran to offer his congratulations and support. He also said he will work to make sure Mike Pompeo is elected to Congress as his successor.

He listed some of his accomplishments — the repeal of the Wright amendment, a new runway at the Wichita airport, grade separations in downtown Wichita, and the capture of the BTK serial killer — and said he had a good run in Congress.

He added that he believes that Pompeo will work as hard as he has.

Asked if he would consider running for other office he said it’s too early to think about that now.

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Comments

9 responses to “Tiahrt, in close campaign, comes in second”

  1. Lauren

    Thanks for the update, Bob. Glad to hear that Tiahrt’s being diplomatic despite the tough loss and supportive of Pompeo.

  2. Ann H.

    I’m surprised the race was as close as it was. All the polls showed Moran ahead by much more. That, and the 1st & 4th district races, where Huelskamp and Pompeo won by much larger margins than recent polls indicated, proves polls aren’t always right and it’s not over till it’s over!

  3. Thomas Witt

    Tiahrt took credit for the capture of BTK? What a joke. A bad, bad joke.

  4. sue c.

    Thomas, just to clear the air and set the record straight. The Wichita police dept. told Todd that they had new leads on BTK, but had no money to go after him.

    Todd was able to get a $1Million “earmark” to allow for the hiring of additional staff and the high-tech computer equipment they needed to finally catch him.

    Otherwise, the police may have had to wait for BTK to kill another before being able to get the funds to go after him.

    I think that Todd’s significant assistance in this particular case really did lead to the apprehension of BTK. At the news conference following his arrest, the police acknowledged the great help of Mr. Tiahrt that allowed for the eventual arrest.

    All the best to Mr. Tiahrt. And kudos to Mr. Moran, who I now FULLY support. Both good men.

  5. Anonymous

    So it was a government earmark that actually helped capture the BTK Killer? Hmmmm……..

  6. Mike

    Hi, I’m a bit surprised and disappointed that both Moran and Tiahrt ran for Senator. It seems that one or the other should have waited until Roberts retired.

    I’ve always supported Tiahrt for one reason. No one I know that contacted him in Congress received a request for campaign contributions. My Dad sent $ to the WW2 memorial and received 6-7 requests for contributions to Dole’s reelection campaign. Dad lives in Illinois…

    Later

    Mike

  7. kimpot54

    I don’t pretend to be an expert on earmarks, but it’s my understanding that earmarks aren’t all bad… that without earmarks of any kind, all money (provided in these bills) would go into a general fund leaving the decisions on spending up to bureaucrats. Bob, can you shed any light on this?

  8. Anonymous

    What a loss for Kansas it is that Mr. Tiahrt didn’t win his bid for the Senate seat. I’m not a fan of Mr. Moran’s. Having talked to legislators who have served with him in past years, he is not a leader – and a leader is what we need. Anyone who hides from votes or waits until the last person to vote to see which way the wind is blowing doesn’t begin to have the backbone we need to help fix the direction of Washington. Of course, I wish the best for Kansas, but it’s a great loss to have Mr. Tiahrt no longer on our team. Mr. Tiahrt fought for the fourth, he fought for Kansas, and he remained a true Kansan – never changing to suit the political winds, and never conforming to DC. Thank you, Mr. Tiahrt. We will miss you, and we hope to see you again soon. To Mr. Moran, you have very large shoes to fill and the fourth expects a lot out of you. Godspeed.

  9. Dismal Scientist

    Time for Todd to get a real job if he can find one…he and his cronies in D.C. were part and parcel of “Big Government” that let the Federal Reserve rape us all these years…good luck on your job search Mr. T!

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