A slip by a Kansas Republican Party official in introducing U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts at a political rally prompted the senator to jokingly describe the chamber as an “assisted living home.”

Roberts participated Monday in a rally for Gov. Sam Brownback at a car dealership in Olathe.

In introducing Roberts, Johnson County GOP Chairman Ronnie Metsker inadvertently referred to Roberts as the state’s “senior citizen.” Metsker caught himself and corrected the phrase to “senior senator,” but the mistake broke up the crowd and the dignitaries.

When Roberts had the podium for his own remarks, he joked, “Well, they don’t call the Senate the assisted living home for nothing.”

The 78-year-old, three-term senator is facing a spirited challenge in the Aug. 5 Republican primary from 43–year-old Leawood radiologist Milton Wolf.