The campaign juggernaut Chanute attorney Ed Bideau unleashed paid dividends Tuesday when he outdistanced two Iola rivals en route to the Republican nomination for the District 9 Kansas seat.
His primary election victory virtually ensured Bideau the seat; no Democrat or independent party candidates filed.
Bideau won Allen County by eight votes over Iola oilman Bud Sifers, 736-728. Judy Brigham, former Iola administrator, had 585 votes. Bideau won Neosho County in landslide proportions. There he had 1,266 votes, to 196 for Sifers and 78 for Brigham.
While Bideau, a more moderate candidate, won in Allen and Neosho counties, Caryn Tyson, a conservative, whipped John Coen, Ottawa banker who is considered moderate, by 1,222 votes, 5,855-4,633, for the District 12 Senate GOP nomination.
Tyson will face Denise Cassells of Mound City, a former Republican who registered as a Democrat in 2004. The Tyson-Cassells race will be decided in November.
WITH TIME on his hands from not having to campaign rigorously for the general election, Bideau intends to “become better acquainted with people in Humboldt and Iola, to learn what their concerns and needs are,” he said early today, still flush from his primary victory.
“I want to sit down with boards of education members and superintendents in the district” to make himself well-versed in local school situations before the session begins in January, Bideau said.
When the session does start, Bideau said he knew he and other legislators — many more to the right — “won’t see eye-to-eye on everything, but there will be many issues where we agree.”
Forrest Knox, an avowed conservative who left a House seat to win the GOP nomination in the Senate to represent all or parts of Wilson, Greenwood and Butler counties, is a friend of his, Bideau said.
“We’ve talked quite a bit and exchanged information,” he said.
Bideau also is acquainted with Larry Hibbard, who won in the Woodson County House race. He characterized the Toronto rancher as “level-headed.”
“I think we can have a good working relationship with all the southeast Kansas folks,” he added.
In addition to mining information locally, Bideau intends to “get the lay of the (legislative) land before the session starts,” through legislators he served with in a previous House stint, including Mike O’Neil, former speaker from Hutchinson.
“We’ve been fighting too much (in the Legislature); we need to find common ground,” he said.
As for the primary vote, Bideau said he was surprised to have done as well as he did, particularly in Allen County.
“It’s very rewarding and gratifying personally,” he continued. “I’ve been working 40 years to help improve my community and (winning) will drive me to work even harder.”
