A push by top Kansas Republicans to punish party officials who backed an Independent candidate for Governor is shining a spotlight on an internal rift. The conflict involving State Senator, Dennis Pyle, could hinder GOP leaders’ efforts to steer the state back to the right over Democratic Governor Laura Kelly’s objections. Many Republicans blame Pyle’s campaign for Kelly’s narrow reelection victory November 8th, over three-term Republican State Attorney General Derek Schmidt. But five hard-right lawmakers say that “GOP establishment manipulations” were the culprit. They denounced the state party’s chair for moving to sanction party officials who violated a party ban against supporting non-republicans.
