Independent candidate Greg Orman wrapped up an eight-day, cross-state bus trip Friday night in Kansas City, Kan., refusing to bow to pressure to leave the governor’s race.
“We are in this race to the end. We are in this race to win it,” Orman said Friday night at a campaign event with running mate John Doll at Pleasant Green Baptist Church in Kansas City, Kan.
“We’re pulling votes from both sides and as we continue over the next 32 days, I believe we’re going to continue to get our message out,” Orman said.
Just how that will happen is unclear. Orman stopped making ad buys on broadcast television in mid-September and the campaign is guarded about revealing its strategy going forward.
Orman answered speculation that he might withdraw from the race, especially with a new poll showing him still in third place behind Democrat Laura Kelly and Republican Kris Kobach.
Democrats have been pushing Orman to get out of the race fearing that he might draw votes away from Kelly and enhance Kobach’s chance of winning the governor’s mansion.
Orman blamed rumors about a withdrawal on “politics,” saying he expected “dirty politics from both sides.”
“It’s one of the things that people are so frustrated about,” Orman said. “They like people to go out and put a positive vision for what they’re going to do for the state but instead we end up with lies, innuendo, dirty tricks.”
Fresh off his bus trip across the state, Orman said told the audience he was excited about the reception he received. But he conceded there’s still a tough fight ahead.
“John and I left the road energized. We left the road excited. We left the road realizing that we got an uphill battle over the next 32 days, but we are going to work hard every day. Nobody is going to out work us over the next 32 days.”
