TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican Gov. Sam Brownback is awaiting a verdict from Kansas voters on whether his conservative tax-cutting experiment went too far.

Brownback was in a close race ahead of Tuesday’s election with Democratic challenger Paul Davis and faced a revolt from GOP moderates.

The 58-year-old governor painted Davis as a liberal and tried to tie him to Democratic President Barack Obama.

Davis is a 42-year-old Lawrence lawyer and the Kansas House minority leader. He ran as a centrist who would have a bipartisan administration.

Personal income tax cuts enacted in 2012 and 2013 at Brownback’s urging dropped the state’s top rate by 26 percent and exempted the owners of 191,000 businesses altogether.

A budget shortfall of $260 million is predicted by July 2016, but Brownback contends the economy is growing.