There weren’t a lot of surprises in the list of winners from Tuesday’s primary election.

What was a little surprising to some observers was the narrow margin of a number of those victories.

The Republican primary races for governor, secretary of state, U.S. Senate and U.S. House all were won by incumbents but, in most of those races, the victories didn’t come as easily as one might expect.

U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts won 48 percent of the vote but faced a stiff and well-financed challenge from Milton Wolf, a Johnson County physician who had 41 percent. Of the three U.S. House incumbents who had primary opponents, 2nd District Rep. Lynn Jenkins had the largest margin of victory, 68 percent compared with Joshua Joel Tucker’s 31 percent. The 4th District incumbent, Mike Pompeo, defeated former congressman Todd Tiahrt by a mark of 63 percent to 37 percent. After being re-elected without opposition two years ago, Rep. Tim Huelskamp had a much tighter race, garnering just 55 percent of the vote in the 1st District.

The depth of the divisions within the Kansas Republican Party were most apparent in the races for Kansas governor and secretary of state. Scott Morgan of Lawrence only entered the secretary of state’s race in late May, but drew 35 percent of the vote to Kris Kobach’s 65 percent. In the governor’s race, Jennifer Winn, a virtual unknown, recorded 37 percent of the vote to Gov. Brownback’s 63 percent.

The victories of Kobach and Brownback were decisive, but not as broad as would be expected for Republican incumbents. How many people voting for Winn knew she had once declared bankruptcy and favors the legalization of marijuana? Were they voting for Winn and the legalization of marijuana or against Brownback?

How does Brownback’s primary performance compare with other incumbent governors seeking re-election? Gov. Kathleen Sebelius had no primary opposition in 2006, but in 1998, Gov. Bill Graves won 73 percent of the vote despite a serious challenge from former legislator and Kansas GOP chairman David Miller. In 1990, Gov. Mike Hayden was one of six candidates seeking the Republican nomination, including Wichita real estate executive Nestor Weigand Jr. Hayden managed to win the primary with 45 percent of the vote compared to Weigand’s 42 percent but was defeated by Democrat Joan Finney in the 1990 general election.

Because Kansas is such a heavily Republican state, the inner dealings of the party play a big role in the state’s political future. Nationwide, the Republican Party is struggling to unite behind a common philosophy and set of candidates. Tuesday’s primary results seem to indicate that same Republican struggle is alive and well in Kansas.