Republicans were the focus of a candidate forum Tuesday night at Eudora City Hall.

The forum, sponsored by the Eudora Chamber of Commerce and EudoraReporter.com, was open to primary races for the state House 42nd District and state Senate 3rd District.

With Democrats Harold Fevurly Jr. (42nd District) and Sen. Tom Holland (3rd District) running unopposed in the primaries, the forum focused on Rep. Connie O’Brien, Tonganoxie, and Sandra Bohne, rural Leavenworth, in the Republican primary for the House seat and Rep. Anthony Brown, R-Eudora, and J.C. Tellefson, R-Leavenworth, in the Republican primary for the Senate race.

Each candidate was allowed opening remarks, and then they fielded questions from moderator John Schulz of EudoraReporter.com. The forum then opened to questions from the audience.

All four candidates addressed job growth, taxes, economy and health care, with all but Tellefson saying they would like to see the Affordable Health Care Act repealed.

Tellefson referenced his military background when it came to the Supreme Court’s decision on the law being constitutional. He said that when a senior officer gave him an order, he might not agree, but “I salute and go down the road. Our job is to do our job.”

The former Leavenworth County Commissioner said he didn’t agree with Gov. Sam Brownback’s decision to send back a $31.5 million federal grant to establish an insurance exchange. But he also supported U.S. Sens. Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts, as well as Rep. Lynn Jenkins, in serving the state’s best interests in the health care debate.

Bohne and O’Brien took center stage at the forum for roughly 45 minutes, and after a break Brown and Tellefson answered questions for about 45 minutes before a crowd of roughly 25 people.