Topeka ? The Hutchinson News editorial board has withdrawn its endorsement of Tracey Mann in the Republican primary for 1st U.S. House District after Mann questioned the citizenship of President Barack Obama.

Mann said Tuesday on a Salina radio show that he thinks the president “needs to come forth with his papers and show everyone that he is an American citizen and put this issue to bed once and for all.”

So-called birthers have challenged Obama’s standing as president by alleging that he was not born in the United States.

Hawaii officials have repeatedly confirmed the president’s citizenship, and his Hawaiian birth certificate has been made public, along with newspaper birth notices published when he was born in 1961.

Last year, a federal judge in Washington threw out a lawsuit on the issue, calling the case a waste of the court’s time.

Mann is in a crowded GOP field in the Aug. 3 primary, which includes Jim Barnett, a doctor and state senator from Emporia; Sue Boldra, a political science educator from Hays; Marck Cobb, an attorney from Galva; Tim Huelskamp, a farmer and state senator from Fowler; and Rob Wasinger, a former political staffer from Cottonwood Falls.

The incumbent is U.S. Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays, who faces U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, in the GOP primary for Senate.