photo by: Associated Press

In this Sept. 5, 2017, photo, the Capitol is seen in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

TOPEKA – Republican voters in eastern Kansas will decide Tuesday who their candidate will be in the 2nd District congressional race.

It is a district that leans Republican and has been occupied the last 10 years by Republican U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, of Topeka, who is stepping away from politics this year.

But it is considered a “toss-up” district by many political handicappers in the 2018 elections, largely because the Democrats are poised to nominate former state Rep. Paul Davis, 46, of Lawrence, who built statewide name recognition in his narrow loss to Sam Brownback in the 2014 race for governor, and because he has already raised more money than all seven Republican candidates combined.

Meanwhile, none of the GOP candidates have that same kind of name recognition, except perhaps former Kansas House Speaker Doug Mays, of Topeka, who has been out of politics since 2006.

The GOP primary race features three incumbent state senators, one incumbent House member, a military veteran who is new to Kansas politics, a Basehor city councilman, and Mays.

Surprisingly, the newcomer to politics, veteran Steve Watkins, of Topeka, appears to have emerged as a front-runner, even by the admission of other Republicans in the race. That’s due in part to outside support he has received from a number of super PACs, including one established by his father.

Other candidates in the race, however, have launched a concerted campaign highlighting the fact that he had never voted in any partisan election until last year and questioning whether he is really the conservative that he claims to be, or whether his image has been manufactured for the campaign.

Steve Watkins

Watkins, 41, of Topeka, is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point who served in Afghanistan in the Army’s special operations forces. An engineer, he later became a defense contractor and consultant in Iraq.

photo by: Contributed photo

Steve Watkins

He is also an adventurer who has raced in Alaska’s Iditarod dog sled race and has attempted to climb Mt. Everest.

On his website, Watkins describes himself as a “pro-life conservative,” a staunch defender of Second Amendment rights and a budget hawk who speaks out against the growing national debt.

He has been endorsed by veterans groups, including “With Honor,” which supports military veterans running for Congress from either party. But his rivals in the race note that his campaign has benefited from outside political action committees, including the Patriotic Americans PAC and Our American Century, which they argue have ties to other organizations that campaign against conservatives and for moderate Republicans.

They also point to comments he made at a recent candidate forum in Burlington where he described himself as a “pro-choice Christian,” a remark he later described as a “verbal gaffe.” But his rivals have posted both audio and video clips of that remark on websites and social media.

Steve Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald, 73, of Leavenworth, was elected to the Senate in 2012 when he defeated incumbent Sen. Mark Gilstrap, a former Democrat who had recently switched parties, in that year’s Republican primary.

photo by: Submitted photo

Sen. Steve Fitzgerald

A retired Army colonel, Fitzgerald has been a staunch ally of the conservative faction within the Senate Republican caucus. He voted against reversing former Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax policies in 2017, and also voted against overriding Brownback’s veto. In 2018, he also voted against a school funding bill, aimed at settling a lawsuit before the Kansas Supreme Court, that phases in more than $500 million in new annual school funding over the next five years.

Fitzgerald has also been known for making comments that his critics find extreme, such as in 2017, when he referred to transgender individuals as suffering from a form of “insanity.” And earlier this year, he said everything outside the Western world, or Christendom, is “barbarism.”

When he announced his bid for Congress in July, he identified himself as an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump. On the campaign trail, he has said he is a staunch opponent of abortion rights and a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights.

He is one of three candidates in the race endorsed by Kansans for Life, a leading anti-abortion political organization.

Sen. Caryn Tyson

Tyson, 52, of Parker, also has the endorsement of Kansans for Life. She has also been endorsed by the National Right to Life Committee.

photo by: Submitted photo

Sen. Caryn Tyson

Like Fitzgerald, Tyson also was first elected to the Senate in 2012 as part of a conservative wave that year.

She is currently chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Assessment and Taxation, which produced both the 2016 sales tax increase and the 2017 reversal of Brownback’s tax policies.

Tyson personally opposed both of those measures and voted against them on the Senate floor. But as chair of the committee, operating under instructions from Senate leadership, and the will of the prevailing majority in the chamber, it was her job to negotiate with the House on those bills and bring them to the Senate floor for a vote.

That has led to some misleading TV ads sponsored by a political action committee supporting Watkins, which have falsely claimed that she “voted for” the sales tax increase.

The Tyson campaign, meanwhile, has launched a website, therealstevewatkins.com, which accuses Watkins of really being a moderate who initially courted Democrats before deciding to run as a Republican, something based on a Kansas City Star report.

Tyson is a software engineer by profession. She and her husband, Tim Tyson, also operate a ranch in Linn County.

On her own website, Tyson says she is running for Congress “to replace Obamacare, secure our borders, cut wasteful spending, and promote true conservative values.”

Sen. Dennis Pyle

Pyle, 57, of Hiawatha, is no stranger to 2nd District races. In 2010, he unsuccessfully challenged Jenkins, who was running for her second term. He received 43 percent of the vote in that primary.

photo by: Submitted photo

The district boundaries, however, have changed since then. For one thing, at that time, the eastern half of Lawrence and Douglas County were in the 3rd District. The 2nd District now includes all of Douglas County.

Pyle is a farmer and a strong supporter of Trump. In a recent interview, he acknowledged that his own farm stands to lose profits due to the tariff wars that have escalated in recent weeks, but he said he believes Trump is on the right path in trade negotiations and will eventually put U.S. agriculture in a better trading position. He also said he believes most farmers in the 2nd District agree.

Pyle served one term in the House, from 2001 to 2002, but was defeated for re-election by Democrat Bruce Larkin. Two years later, he was elected to his Senate seat, and he is now in his fourth term.

In the Senate, Pyle has consistently aligned himself with the GOP’s conservative faction, opposing abortion, tax increases and increases in school funding. He has also sponsored a proposed constitutional amendment that would limit the Kansas Supreme Court’s ability to order remedies in school finance cases, as well as a proposed amendment that would allow voters to propose laws and constitutional amendments and put them on ballots for public votes through initiatives and referendums.

Pyle entered the race on May 23, much later than most other candidates, but quickly raised more than $140,000 before the June 30 reporting deadline, more than any other candidate during that period. He also is the only candidate who has not put any of his own money into his campaign.

Rep. Kevin Jones

Jones, 43, of Wellsville, is also a veteran of the U.S. Army special forces who has served in a number of hot spots around the globe, including Iraq.

photo by: Submitted photo

Rep. Kevin Jones

He is currently finishing his third term in the House. During the most recent session, he chaired the House Higher Education Budget Committee and was vice chair of the Joint Committee on Kansas Security. He also serves on the Wellsville school board.

In 2017, Jones voted against expanding Medicaid, against reversing the Brownback tax policies, and against both attempts to override Brownback’s vetoes of those bills. He has also voted in favor of abortion restrictions.

In his campaign for Congress, Jones has said that he would be a fiscal conservative and a strong supporter of national defense, and that he would work to halt the spread of opioid abuse.

Doug Mays

Mays, 67, of Topeka, is a former state representative who served as speaker of the House from 2003 through 2006. Before his career in the House, he served on the Topeka City Commission and the Topeka-Shawnee County Planning Commission.

photo by: Submitted photo

Doug Mays

His time as speaker included the tumultuous 2015 special session that amounted to a showdown between the Kansas Supreme Court and conservative Republicans in the House over the issue of school finance.

In the case Montoy v. Kansas, the court had ordered the Legislature to add hundreds of millions of dollars in new school funding. Mays led the conservative faction in the House, and most of its members initially refused to comply, arguing the court had overstepped its bounds by ordering a specific appropriation.

After the court issued an order threatening to close public schools within a matter of days, conservatives relented and Mays allowed a vote on a bill supported by Democrats and moderate Republicans, which eventually passed.

Mays got into the 2nd District race on May 11, saying at the time that he had been urged to do so by both Kansas and national Republican officials who feared the district could fall to Democrats if Republicans didn’t put up a stronger candidate.

But he has had difficulty raising money, and on June 30 he reported raising only about $7,500 from outside sources, far less than Pyle, who got into the race a week later.

In his campaign for Congress, Mays has said he would focus on border security, fiscal restraint and rolling back Obama-era regulations that he says are harmful for Kansas agriculture.

Vernon J. Fields

Fields, 61, of Basehor, currently serves on the Basehor City Council. Although he attends some candidate forums, he has otherwise been the least visible candidate in the race, rarely sending out news releases or issuing public statements.

photo by: Submitted photo

Vernon J. Fields

As of July 30, he had raised only $2,450 from outside sources and contributed $1,085 of his own money.

According to his campaign Facebook page, Fields was born in Omaha, Neb. He served in the U.S. Army as a registered nurse. He retired from the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 2009.

His campaign website outlines some of his general positions. He supports Second Amendment gun rights, and he supports health care reform that reduces the amount of government involvement in health care. He also supports improving border security and preventing illegal immigration.