A Kansas congressman was slapped with voting fraud charges on Tuesday about a half-hour before having to take the stage in the state's GOP primary debate.
"I haven't done anything wrong," Republican Rep. Steve Watkins said in the NBC affiliate KSNT debate, calling the timing of the charges "very suspicious" and "highly political."
"I look forward to clearing my name. I have done nothing wrong and look forward to setting the record straight," he added.
Watkins said he hadn't yet seen the charges, which Kansas media reported were announced by District Attorney Mike Kagay shortly before Watkins' debate against his two challengers.
"This is clearly hyper-political," Watkins said.
The first question of the night, posed to all three challengers, was "What is your response to the charges" against Watkins.
Watkins was hit with three felony charges and one misdemeanor for allegedly using a Topeka UPS store as his registration address for the 2019 local city and school board election in November and voting in the wrong city council district.
Watkins later listed the address for an apartment complex about 2 miles north of the UPS store as his residence, then corrected his voter registration form in mid-January to list an apartment number.
"As soon as I realized that I had put my mailing address instead of my physical address we fixed it," Watkins said at the debate, adding that he'd cooperated with the DA's investigation.
Watkins is an honorary state co-chairman for the re-election campaign of President Donald Trump, who's often complained about voter fraud.
Bryan Piligra, spokesman for Watkins’ re-election campaign, said of the charges, "Give us a break."
“Thirty minutes before the first televised debate and the day before early voting starts, the DA – who shares a political consultant with our primary opponent Jake LaTurner – files these bogus charges. They couldn’t have been more political if they tried,” Piligra said.
“Just like President Trump, Steve is being politically prosecuted by his opponents who can’t accept the results of the last election.”
Kagay, a Republican, said the investigation was delayed significantly due to the coronavirus shutdown, according to KSNT.
The Shawnee County district attorney's office did not respond to a call for comment.
