OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is joining fellow ex-nominee Bob Dole in the GOP’s efforts in Kansas to rescue U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts’ re-election.

Both Romney and Dole were joining Roberts on Monday at an Overland Park restaurant and banquet hall for a campaign rally. Kansas is a GOP-leaning state, but the race between Roberts and independent candidate Greg Orman appears to be a toss-up.

They’re appearing in Johnson County, the state’s most populous county and home to 22 percent of the state’s 1.74 million voters. It’s normally a Republican stronghold, but Orman is an Olathe businessman and expects to do well there.

Romney captured 58 percent of the vote in the county when he ran for president in 2012. Dole did, too, when he ran in 1996.