Only three Republican incumbents in the Kansas House lost their primaries on Tuesday, dampening any hopes that moderate Republicans and Democrats could wrest control of the chamber from conservatives.

Moderates put up well-financed candidates to challenge sitting conservatives in several districts around the state. At the same time, a few sitting moderates also faced well-financed challenges from conservatives.

There were also contested primaries in a handful of House districts being vacated by retirements.

In the end, though, almost all incumbents who ran for re-election won their primaries. That means unless Democrats can pick up a significant number of seats in the general election, the balance of power in the House is likely to remain the same, regardless of how the race for governor between Republican Sam Brownback and Democrat Paul Davis turns out.

Noting the 100th anniversary this year of the start of World War I, Clay Barker, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party, likened it to a trench battle in that war: “Candidates and outside groups invested substantial resources, campaigned ferociously, but, in the end, there was no material shift in the ideological disposition of the Republican slate of candidates.”

“One strategic result is that the re-creation of a Moderate-Democrat working majority in the House is now probably beyond reach in 2014,” Barker said.

Conservatives hold at least 63 seats in the 125-member House, just enough to pass legislation on their own. But depending on the issue, Barker said, there are sometimes as many as 70 or more.

Moderates managed to gain one seat Tuesday in the 50th District in northern Shawnee County, where Fred Patton, a former Seaman school board member and former president of the Kansas Association of School Boards, edged out incumbent conservative Josh Powell.

Two other conservatives lost primaries, but to challengers who may be just as conservative on many issues. Rep. Allan Rothlisberg of Geary County, lost to Lonnie Clark in the 65th District, and Rep. George F. “Joe” Edwards II of Wichita, lost to John Whitmer in the 93rd District.

Elsewhere, several incumbent moderates withstood challenges, notably reps. Barbara Bollier and Stephanie Clayton, both of Johnson County.