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Kansas U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts won a big tea party endorsement Tuesday from a group that had backed his primary challenger, providing a boost for the three-term Republican on a day his embattled campaign also got a visit from Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul.

As the unexpectedly competitive race entered its final week, the endorsement from the Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund signaled some conservatives once determined to oust the 78-year-old senator may now be accepting him as a more palatable option than independent Greg Orman, a political unknown.

The group previously endorsed Roberts' GOP challenger, Milton Wolf, and called the incumbent "a desperate career politician."

Paul told a crowd of about 200 people at a Wichita airport hangar that Orman could help Democrats. Numerous Republican dignitaries, including several on past presidential tickets, have made the same argument on Roberts' behalf.

"How could you even consider voting for someone who would support President Obama's agenda or (Democratic Majority Leader) Harry Reid?" said Paul, who has strong tea party support and is weighing a presidential run. "You have to come together. We've been counting on you, Kansas. You're a Republican state, for goodness sakes!"

Tea Party Patriots are among the biggest national tea party groups, though there are hundreds throughout the country that operate locally. Larger conservative groups such as Tea Party Express, which also backed Wolf but switched to Roberts this month, have sought to influence congressional primaries this year with little success.

The GOP needs six seats to gain control of the Senate, and was not expecting to defend Roberts' in typically GOP-heavy Kansas. Orman, a 45-year-old who briefly sought the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination in 2008, describes himself as "fiscally conservative and socially tolerant," but has declined to say with which party he will affiliate, if elected.

Orman kept a relatively low profile Tuesday, spending much of the day in private, small-group events.

"No matter how many national politicians Senator Roberts brings to Kansas, Kansans know that Washington is broken and Senator Roberts is part of the problem there," Orman campaign manager Jim Jonas said in a written statement.

To underscore Kansas' unfamiliar role as a swing state, Paul recalled last visiting Kansas with his family in 1976, when the Republican National Convention held was held in Kansas City, Missouri, and his family spent time in nearby Overland Park, Kansas.

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Paul, Tea Party Groups Back Kansas US Sen. Roberts