TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A conservative Kansas House member has succeeded in unseating a moderate state senator, the second time the two have faced off in a Republican primary in the Salina area.
Freshman Rep. Tom Arpke received 56 percent of the vote Tuesday against Sen. Pete Brungardt in final, unofficial results from the 24th District. Both candidates are from Salina.
Brungardt narrowly won a primary race against Arpke in 2008.
Arpke, an energy consultant, was elected to the House in 2010. He served as treasurer that year of conservative Republican Kris Kobach’s successful campaign for secretary of state.
Brungardt has held his seat since 2001, and he’s chairman of the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee.
Arpke will face Democrat Janice Norlin, a Salina attorney, in the November general election.
