<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1594663682669.png" alt="The Democratic (left) and Republican candidates for the Aug. 4 primary for Kansas' 2nd Congressional District. Crysta Henthorne / KCUR" />
 <figcaption>The Democratic (left) and Republican candidates for the Aug. 4 primary for Kansas' 2nd Congressional District. Crysta Henthorne / KCUR</figcaption>
 </figure>By STEPHEN KORANDA <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-07-13/outsider-kansas-republican-congressman-faces-a-challenge-from-fellow-conservatives">Kansas News Service</a>LAWRENCE — Freshman U.S. Rep. Steve Watkins is in an 
unusual situation: His re-election bid for the 2nd Congressional 
District seat is being complicated by two primary challengers and 
opposition from some in the GOP establishment.Typically, sitting 
members of Congress will be challenged over ideological differences. But
 in this case, the man who ran in 2018 as a conservative outsider in the
 mold of President Donald Trump is up against a fellow conservative, 
Republican Jake LaTurner, and longtime government official Dennis 
Taylor.Former Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer publicly called for LaTurner, who is currently Kansas’ treasurer, to <a href="https://twitter.com/DrJeffColyer/status/1166380168346312705" target="_blank">run against Watkins</a>, saying LaTurner had the best chance of keeping the seat in Republican hands.Watkins, who <a href="https://apnews.com/34882545094f4e83b9117dba13b6b7e3" target="_blank">narrowly won</a>
 in the 2018 general election with the help of big ad spending from his 
father, isn’t concerned by some political lifers lining up behind 
LaTurner.“They just want to cling to power,” Watkins said. “That’s why we’ve seen the support behind Jake that we’ve seen.”LaTurner believes Watkins hasn’t supported Trump enough.“What
 this race is actually about is a real conservative who’s going to get 
things done versus someone who’s posing as a conservative,” LaTurner 
said, “and who in his first year has made bad votes and put himself in a
 terrible position to win this seat and keep it in Republican hands.”Watkins’
 ads include video of Trump endorsing him during an event in Topeka 
before the 2018 election, and he frequently mentions he’s an honorary 
co-chair of Trump’s re-election campaign in Kansas.“I vote with Trump 96% of the time,” Watkins said. “I’ve met with Trump. I've been in the Oval Office.”But LaTurner said there’s more to it, pointing to a voter registration scandal involving Watkins, when Watkins <a href="https://www.cjonline.com/news/20191203/us-rep-steve-watkins-tangled-in-voter-fraud-perjury-allegations-for-listing-ups-store-as-residence" target="_blank">registered to vote at a UPS store</a> instead of his home address.“There
 are major concerns that people of the 2nd District should have with 
their current congressman,” LaTurner said in an interview. “We hear it 
every day. We think people are hungry for a change.”Watkins told 
the Kansas News Service that LaTurner is trying to leverage a simple 
mistake, and that he accidentally listed a mailing address instead of 
his home address.Former state Senator Steve Fitzgerald was one of the six Republicans that Watkins <a href="https://kansaspublicradio.org/kpr-news/seven-gop-candidates-compete-kansas-2nd-district-vote" target="_blank">beat in the 2018 primary</a>. He’s backing LaTurner.Fitzgerald
 said he’s not vindictive — he just thinks LaTurner has a better chance 
to win and has experience on tax and gun rights issues from his time in 
the Kansas Senate.“LaTurner is the type of person we want,” 
Fitzgerald said in an interview. “He’s got a beautiful family, a solid 
reputation in his community and he’s got not a hint of scandal at all.”To Watkins, the difference is he’s still new to politics, while LaTurner seems to be climbing the political ladder.“This
 is the story of the lifetime of service, which I’ve done both in the 
military and now new into politics, versus the lifetime of self 
service,” Watkins said. “He’s never had a job outside politics.”In
 addition to touting his ties to Trump, Watkins is touting his work to 
approve the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which replaced NAFTA 
and involves trade markets that are important to Kansas agriculture. 
Watkins was responsible for counting votes among freshman lawmakers and 
working to convince them to support the plan.The third Republican
 in the race, Taylor, said LaTurner and Watkins aren’t talking enough 
about the biggest issue: the coronavirus.“Our economy, if it’s 
not in the ditch, it’s heading that direction,” Taylor said in an 
interview. “And they’re not speaking, either one of them, to what really
 is the crisis of the moment.”Taylor worked in the 
administrations of Republican governors Mike Hayden and Sam Brownback. 
He calls himself a pragmatic conservative who would support the 
president when it makes sense for Kansas.The government should be
 investing in infrastructure, Taylor said, and a national coronavirus 
tracing program that will create jobs and identify coronavirus hot 
spots.“We’re going in the wrong direction, and a lot of that is 
because we haven’t put the manpower into trying to figure out where the 
virus is and isolate it and kill it,” Taylor said.The winner of the Aug. 4 Republican primary will face the winner of the Democratic contest between <a href="https://kansaspublicradio.org/kpr-news/democratic-topeka-mayor-announces-run-congress" target="_blank">Topeka Mayor Michelle De La Isla</a> and James Windholz from Lawrence.Stephen Koranda is the Statehouse reporter for the Kansas News Service. You can follow him on Twitter<a href="https://twitter.com/kprkoranda" target="_blank"> </a><a href="https://twitter.com/kprkoranda" target="_blank">@kprkoranda</a>.

Outsider Kan. GOP rep faces conservative challenge in 2nd District