State senator drops out of race for Congress in Kansas

Steve Fitzgerald is OUT.

The Kansas state senator from Leavenworth, a Republican, announced this weekend that he’s no longer challenging incumbent Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins of Topeka in the August GOP primary.

“I recently announced my intention to run for the Second Congressional District in Kansas,” Fitzgerald said in an e-mail to supporters. “That is no longer my intention.”

Fitzgerald had said he was running based on his frustrations with GOP leadership in Washington.

Among his concerns had been a proposed cut to military pensions, which Fitzgerald called the largest cut to military compensation ever. The proposed cut was later eliminated, and Jenkins has since said she no longer favors a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, satisfying another Fitzgerald concern.

His reverse-course on challenging Jenkins removes a huge headache for the Kansas GOP, which is already juggling a primary challenge to veteran Sen. Pat Roberts and a stiffer-than-expected challenge to incumbent Gov. Sam Brownback from Democrat Paul Davis.

This story was originally published February 23, 2014 at 7:12 PM with the headline "State senator drops out of race for Congress in Kansas ."