Democrat Is Governor Pick of G.O.P. Group in Kansas

In a stark challenge to the re-election prospects of Gov. Sam Brownback of Kansas, more than 100 Republican politicians and former elected officials on Tuesday endorsed Paul Davis, his Democratic challenger.

Governor Brownback, who swept into office with more than 60 percent of the vote in 2010, faces an unexpectedly tough re-election this fall after spending much of his term pushing sharply conservative policies that have unsettled some members of his own party. Mr. Davis, a state legislator, has criticized Governor Brownback for his support of the largest income tax cuts in state history, cuts that sent revenues plummeting.

The group of 104 Republicans, which took the name Republicans for Kansas Values, included former mayors, a member of Congress and state representatives. They cited budget cuts to education and the income tax cuts as failed policies enacted by Mr. Brownback that have upset Kansas’ long history of cautious moderation.

“I think Sam’s experiment, as he’s called it, is backfiring on us,” Wint Winter, a banker and former state senator, said in an interview on Tuesday. “It’s gone way too far. We’re all very alarmed by the damage to our public schools, very alarmed by the damage to the state’s financial responsibility and very alarmed about the credit downgrade that Wall Street is paying attention to.”

More at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/16/us/politics/democrat-is-governor-pick-of-gop-group-in-kansas.html .