Third-party candidates in the 3rd Congressional District say they hold little hope of victory, but they could decide who wins the Nov. 2 general election.

“They have a huge chance of affecting the outcome,” said Republican consultant Kevin Yowell.

The major-party candidates are incumbent Dennis Moore, a Democrat from Lenexa seeking his fourth term, and Kris Kobach, a Republican from Overland Park, who won the GOP nomination in an upset squeaker over Adam Taff. The district covers all of Johnson and Wyandotte counties and takes in part of Douglas County, including areas in Lawrence east of Iowa Street.

The two wild cards in the general election contest are Joe Bellis, a Libertarian from Overland Park, and Richard Wells, a Reform Party candidate from Olathe.

Yowell said Moore would benefit by the presence of third-party candidates.

“It’s simply that elections when there is an incumbent tend to be about the incumbent. The more that Moore can divide up his opponent’s votes, the better,” he said.

History is a good example. Moore has won the past two elections with 50 percent of the vote, while his Republican opponents received 47 percent, and third-party candidates took the remaining votes.

But Kobach’s campaign said it was confident it wouldn’t be hurt by third-party candidates.

In fact one of them, Wells, the Reform Party candidate, is considering dropping out of the race because he said he shared Kobach’s anti-abortion stance and support of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Wells said he was running for two reasons: He felt Republicans on the national level were not being fiscally disciplined and he feared Taff, a moderate, would be the GOP nominee.

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Now, Wells said, he is trying to decide if he should exit the campaign and try to get his name off the ballot.

“I’m struggling with all those issues right now,” said Wells, a retired electronic engineer.

If Wells did try to remove his name from the ballot he would have to sign a sworn statement that he was “not capable of fulfilling the office,” according to Jesse Borjon, a spokesman for the Secretary of State’s Office. The deadline for such an action is seven days after the state officially canvasses the primary vote, which is tentatively scheduled for Aug. 27.

Bellis, the Libertarian candidate, said he had every intention of staying in the contest.

“I want to see a change in our government,” Bellis said. “It has gotten to the point where it has forgotten about the people. The power base is not really following the Constitution any longer, and our rights and liberties are being usurped every day.”

Bellis said he tried to mount an independent presidential campaign in 2000 but was unable to get on any state ballots.

This time, he accepted the Libertarian Party label, even though he differs with the party on abortion. The Libertarian Party opposes government intervention with a woman’s choice while Bellis said he opposed abortion.