photo by: Contributed and AP photos

Steve Watkins, left, and Paul Davis, right,

Story updated 6:26 p.m. Aug. 8, 2018:

TOPEKA – National Republican groups are already launching an all-out campaign against Lawrence Democrat Paul Davis in the 2nd District congressional race, a seat that could help determine which party controls the U.S. House after the November midterm elections.

But their task may have been made more difficult Tuesday night when political newcomer Steve Watkins emerged as the winner of a hotly contested GOP primary in the district after garnering only 26 percent of the vote.

The 2nd District, where incumbent Republican Lynn Jenkins is retiring after five terms in office, is seen as a toss-up by national political handicappers Sabato’s Crystal Ball and Real Clear Politics.

The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC that supports Republican candidates for the U.S. House, immediately launched an ad campaign in the 2nd District aimed at portraying Davis as a liberal Democrat in the camp of Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

“In Topeka, failed liberal politician Paul Davis raised taxes by over a billion dollars,” CLF spokesman Michael Byerly said in a statement announcing the ad campaign. “Paul Davis would do the same in Congress, voting in lockstep with Nancy Pelosi and her liberal agenda of raising taxes on hardworking families. Kansans simply can’t afford liberal Paul Davis in Congress.”

The Republican National Congressional Committee, a so-called 527 group that can spend limitless amounts of money on issue ads, also issued a statement Tuesday night indicating it intends to get involved in the race as well.

“Paul Davis is in for a rude awakening in the general election. He’ll be held accountable for his liberal record as a lawyer and a state legislator,” NRCC spokesman Kerry Rom said in a statement Tuesday. “Whatever his rhetoric may be, his well-established record tells us exactly where he would stand in Congress: side-by-side with Nancy Pelosi.”

Davis, 46, who narrowly lost the 2014 gubernatorial race to Sam Brownback, actually has said since the start of his campaign that he would not support Pelosi as the Democratic leader in the U.S. House. And he was quick to respond on social media to the attacks from the national Republican groups.

“Thanks, DC-superPAC-funded-by-Nevada-billionaires, for so promptly highlighting how you’ve corrupted our government, hurt our democracy, raised our taxes, attacked our healthcare & abandoned our farmers on front lines of a trade war,” Davis posted on Twitter.

Davis, who will likely receive support from Democratic-aligned super PACs, said in an interview Wednesday that he was not surprised that outside groups were getting involved in the 2nd District so early in the general election cycle.

“Obviously the Republicans are very worried about this seat,” Davis said. “They have millions upon millions of dollars that they have gotten from billionaires like Sheldon Adelson. It’s unfortunate because it drowns out the voices of Kansans who are concerned about what’s going on in Washington, D.C., right now.”

Watkins, 41, of Topeka, who had never run for public office before — and in fact had never voted in a partisan election in Kansas — beat out six other candidates in the race, all of whom had more political experience.

Watkins campaigned on his military experience — he is a West Point graduate and veteran of the war in Afghanistan — and background as an adventurer — he has raced in Alaska’s Iditarod dog-sled race and has attempted to scale Mt. Everest.

As the campaign progressed, the more established candidates in the GOP primary openly questioned his commitment to conservative causes, citing among other things his lack of voting history or Republican activism, and published reports saying he had openly courted Democratic support before filing to run as a Republican.

But those other candidates — which included three incumbent state senators, an incumbent Kansas House member, a former speaker of the Kansas House and a Basehor city councilman — found themselves outspent in the campaign, as Watkins received considerable outside support from super PACs that ran independent TV ads on his behalf, including one established by his father.

In the end, the more established candidates split 74 percent of the vote between them, enabling Watkins to win the nomination with a mere 26 percent of the vote.

His nearest competitor, Sen. Caryn Tyson, of Parker, received 23 percent of the vote, while Leavenworth Sen. Steve Fitzgerald, Hiawatha Sen. Dennis Pyle, Wellsville Rep. Kevin Jones and former House Speaker Doug Mays, of Topeka, all received between 8 and 16 percent. Basehor City Councilman Vernon Fields received 3 percent.

The question now is whether Republicans can unify behind Watkins.

In addition to the criticism that Watkins took from other candidates, several Kansas Republican Party officials, including 2nd District chairwoman Cheryl Reynolds and the chairs of several county committees in the district, issued a statement July 31 criticizing him for not ever having voted in Kansas until last year.

On Wednesday, Reynolds indicated the grassroots party officials had not changed their minds, and they were waiting for Watkins to reach out to them if he expects to receive party support in the general election.

“We’re having conversations about what a Watkins candidacy would look like,” Reynolds said in a phone interview Wednesday. “We’re waiting to hear back from the candidate. So far, he has not reached out to me.”

Wednesday morning, Kansas Republicans held a “unity breakfast” in Topeka, which Watkins and some of the other 2nd District candidates attended. But according to Senate President Susan Wagle, of Wichita, who attended the breakfast, none of the three state senators in the race were present.