The Kansas Senate race isn’t where Republicans thought it would be at this point just a couple months ago, but one widely trusted analyst thinks it’s heading back in their direction.
In his latest Crystal Ball ratings, the University of Virginia Center for Politics’s Larry Sabato has moved the race between Republican incumbent Pat Roberts and independent challenger Greg Orman to a “toss-up.” He previously rated the race as leaning Orman’s way, after the independent candidate surged the top of the polls when the Democratic candidate withdrew last month.
Since former Democratic candidate Chad Taylor dropped out in September, Orman has led Roberts most of the time, moving the onetime safe Republican seat in to uncertainty. But, in the subsequent weeks, Roberts has cast Orman as the de facto Democratic candidate, helping the Republican senator regain ground in the polls, taking the lead in some recent surveys.