Olathe ? U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts was declared the Republican nominee after early returns came in Tuesday, the last day he faced major-party opposition to his bid for a second term.

The Associated Press called Roberts’ race, with nearly half of all precincts showing him with 84 percent to 16 percent for Wichita farmer Tom Oyler. Oyler didn’t expect to win but wanted someone to challenge Roberts.

“I think every time you run, you’ve got to earn the public trust, and every time you ask for the public trust, you’ve got to get out there,” Roberts said in a telephone interview from his home near Washington.

The senator, who cast an absentee ballot, left Kansas Monday night for Tuesday meetings with Agriculture Department officials. Roberts plans to return next Monday to make a final round of visits to all 105 Kansas counties. He has 28 to go.

“We’ll have a modest campaign effort, in regard to television and radio, and I intend to campaign for the ticket,” Roberts said, adding that the Kansas GOP needs to pull together after bruising primary fights for governor, attorney general and Congress.

“There have been some pretty strong differences, and unfortunately it got a little personal,” Roberts said. “I certainly hope we can get the team marching in one direction.”

Roberts, who served 16 years in the U.S. House before winning former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum Baker’s seat in 1996, faces no Democratic opposition in the November general election.

The same is true for Republican Rep. Jerry Moran, who represents the western two-thirds of Kansas.

The other two Republicans, Reps. Todd Tiahrt and Jim Ryun, face no primary opposition but will have Democratic challengers in November. Ryun’s opponent is Democrat Dan Lykins of Topeka.

In Tiahrt’s Wichita-area 4th District, immigration lawyer Carlos Nolla had rolled up 71 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary against businessman Patrick Quaney, who took in 29 percent of the vote, with 44 percent of precincts reporting.

“I’ve been serious for about 19 months, but it begins in earnest now,” Tiahrt said. “I think I’m going to win because I’m in touch with the people of this district, I understand their problems and I’m working with them for solutions.

“A lot of people believe we’re still in recession I have relatives that are still laid off,” he added.

Despite his primary challenge, Nolla has already lobbed attacks at Tiahrt, criticizing a recent fund-raising luncheon Tiahrt held with Republican Whip Tom DeLay of Texas.

“A lot of people are hurting in Wichita and in the 4th District,” Nolla said. “It’s people versus the powerful, and when you have powerful corporate interests in play, then the people tend to be left out, regardless of social class.”

Nolla also won the Democratic nomination in 2000, when Tiahrt won the general election, 54 percent to 42 percent. Nolla once served as an aide to Democratic former Rep. Dan Glickman, whom Tiahrt ousted in 1994.