Pat Roberts

Milton Wolf

Sen. Pat Roberts claimed victory in a close primary Tuesday and immediately reached out to tea party supporters who backed his opponent, Johnson County radiologist Milton Wolf.

“We have another job starting first thing tomorrow, and that job is to unite Republicans in Kansas behind a common and vital cause,” Roberts told a cheering crowd at an election night party in Johnson County.

“Unity must happen if we are to keep Kansas red. It must happen if we are going to defeat the Obama agenda and send (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid packing.”

Speaking to reporters after claiming victory, Roberts said he wasn’t surprised by the close margin, given the amount of national money that flowed into Wolf’s campaign. But he said he intended to reach out to Wolf’s supporters during the general election.

“We need the tea party. We need their passion,” Roberts said. “They’re very upset with the direction of the country. I’m upset with the direction of the country. And we just have to know that we have to have a Republican victory to get that Senate back so we can stop the Obama agenda.”

Roberts will face two candidates in the general election, Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor, who won the Democratic primary in a narrow race against Lawrence attorney Patrick Wiesner; and independent candidate Greg Orman.

Roberts is seeking a fourth term in the Senate after serving 16 years in the U.S. House from the 1st District of western Kansas.

Wolf gained national attention early in the campaign because he is a distant cousin of President Barack Obama. But he is diametrically opposed to Obama’s policies, most notably his signature health reform law called the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

Throughout the campaign, Wolf has criticized Roberts for having spent 47 years in Washington. He has accused the senator of not really being a Kansas resident, and of only paying rent to a political supporter in Dodge City so he can claim a residence for voting purposes.

Roberts has fired back, criticizing Wolf over revelations that he had posted graphic x-ray images of gunshot victims along with disparaging remarks on a Facebook page a few years ago, a matter that is now under investigation by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts.

He has also criticized Wolf for not having voted in several Kansas elections.

Democrat Taylor had the backing of party leaders.

Taylor was elected district attorney in the county that includes the state capital of Topeka in 2008 and re-elected without opposition in 2012.

Wiesner ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for the Senate in 2010.

Republicans enjoy a nearly 20 percentage-point advantage among registered voters and have won every U.S. Senate race in Kansas since 1932.