Topeka ? Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer said his unprecedented $500,000 loan to Gov. Sam Brownback’s re-election campaign shows the team’s commitment to the state and their policies.

But the campaign of likely Democratic opponent, Paul Davis, says it shows that Davis is a contender.

Colyer’s huge loan caused a buzz in Kansas politics as the 2014 legislative started Monday.

“I just believe in what we got to do in Kansas,” said Colyer to the Lawrence Journal-World.

“The governor and I are very convinced in making sure that we have a better future for kids,” he said. Colyer is Brownback’s running mate.

The campaign of Davis and his lieutenant governor running mate, Jill Docking, of Wichita, said the Colyer loan, made on the last day of the campaign finance reporting period, shows that Davis is matching Brownback in fundraising despite the huge advantage in Republican voter registration in Kansas.

“Without this loan, Paul’s campaign has raised as much financial support as the governor, in half the time,” said Davis’ campaign treasurer, William Kassebaum.

“This tells me that Paul has very strong support early in this campaign,” Kassebaum said.

The campaign finance reports filed with the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission show that Brownback raised $1.6 million in 2013, while Davis raised $1 million in a four-month period from the time of his announcement.

Without the $500,000 loan made by Colyer on the last day of 2013, the total amounts raised last year would be similar.

The size of the loan from a candidate to his own political race is apparently unprecedented in Kansas history.

Carol Williams, executive director of the Ethics Commission, says she can remember no loan of that size from a candidate.