A three-term House of Representatives incumbent from Kansas, who was a member of the anti-establishment House Freedom Caucus, was defeated in a Republican primary on Tuesday.
Rep. Tim Huelskamp, who has represented Kansas’ 1st Congressional District since 2011, lost to challenger Roger Marshall, an OBG-YN from Great Bend, Kansas. Huelskamp trailed 43.5% to 56.5% with 99% of the vote tallied.
Huelskamp’s defeat represents a victory of sorts for the so-called Republican establishment — his opponent, Marshall, benefited from the support of pro-business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Huelskamp earned a reputation as an anti-establishment agitator following his role in the ouster of former Speaker John Boehner, which was largely engineered by the Freedom Caucus.
Boehner himself seemed to take a measure of satisfaction in Marshall’s victory — the New York Times Chief Washington Correspondent Carl Hulse tweeted a picture, shared by a former Boehner staffer, of the ex-Speaker “enjoying” Kansas primary night with a glass of wine.