Foes of Abortion Win GOP Senate Primaries

Republicans who oppose abortion won Senate nominations in Georgia, Kansas and Michigan on Tuesday over rivals who back abortion rights, including Bob Dole’s successor.

The trio of bitter races reflected the raging debate over abortion that threatens to disrupt party calls for unity less than a week before the start of the Republican convention in San Diego.

In Michigan, Ronna Romney, a 52-year-old former Detroit radio talk show host who opposes abortion, except to save the life of the mother, edged businessman Jim Nicholson, 53, who supports a woman’s right to an abortion.

With 75% of precincts reporting, Romney had 268,813 votes, or 53%, to Nicholson’s 243,072 votes, or 47%.

In Kansas, Rep. Sam Brownback defeated Sen. Sheila Frahm for the GOP nomination in the race to serve out the last two years of Dole’s term. With 67% of precincts reporting, Brownback had 114,055 votes, or 55%, and Frahm had 84,715 votes, or 41%.

Frahm had the support of Kansas’ moderate GOP leaders, including retiring Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum and Gov. Bill Graves, who appointed Frahm, then his lieutenant governor, to Dole’s seat in June.

Conservatives lined up behind Brownback, an outspoken leader of the 1995 freshman House class who opposes abortion and supports term limits. Frahm supports abortion rights and opposes term limits.

In Georgia, Guy Millner, founder of a temporary services agency, favors banning abortions except in cases of rape or incest or to save the life of the mother. He easily defeated real estate developer Johnny Isakson.

Millner had 139,923 votes, or 54%, while Isakson had 117,581 votes, or 46%, with 87% of precincts reporting. Isakson, 51, supports a woman’s right to choose.

In last month’s primary, Millner, 60, came in first but failed to get a majority, forcing Tuesday’s runoff.

Romney, divorced from a son of popular former Gov. George Romney, who died last year, lost the GOP Senate nomination in 1994. This campaign, she relied on the support of antiabortion activists, including Right to Life of Michigan.

Nicholson’s key advantage was his wealth, estimated at more than $10 million (his father founded the Detroit-based chemical company PVS Chemicals Inc.), and he poured $1.3 million of his own money into the race.

The winner faces an uphill battle against Democratic incumbent Sen. Carl Levin in November.

Michigan will have at least one new face in Congress, however. Three-term Rep. Barbara-Rose Collins, under investigation for alleged misuse of congressional resources, lost the Democratic primary to state Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick.

In the race to fill Kassebaum’s seat, Rep. Pat Roberts won the GOP nomination. Kansas Treasurer Sally Thompson was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

In the GOP primary for Brownback’s seat, 49-year-old track and field legend Jim Ryun, who opposes abortion, beat former Topeka Mayor Doug Wright, who supports the right to abortion, and a third candidate.