On paper, it's a perfect marriage. Kansas' 1st Congressional District is about as conservative as they come—and so is its current representative: Tim Huelskamp.
Huelskamp voted against increasing the debt ceiling in 2013 and against the 2014 budget compromise, and he received a 92 percent score from the conservative Heritage Foundation—one of the highest scores for any House or Senate member in the last Congress. He also spent his first two terms in open defiance of House Speaker John Boehner, with his most famous stunt coming in 2013, when he sat on the House floor taunting the speaker with a list of names of fellow House Republicans he said planned to vote against him.
Meanwhile, the district Huelskamp represents, a sprawling, agricultural area covering most of Kansas, has held a similarly conservative line: Mitt Romney won 70 percent of the district in 2012, and the Cook Political Report's partisan voting index ranks it as the 18th most conservative district in the country.
But just over four years in, Huelskamp's relationship with the district is strained, and it seems possible, if not likely, that they're on track for a 2016 divorce.
Huelskamp struggled to win his primary last cycle, despite facing an unknown challenger with no political experience. And his opponents, emboldened by that close call, have already started talking about a better organized effort to beat him in 2016. Judging by the kind of opposition he has attracted—as well as his close call in such a conservative district—it is apparent that he hasn't just rankled moderates. One of the most tea party-friendly districts in the country has pushed back against Huelskamp.