Kansas outcome a warning to GOP as Georgia contest nears

Kansas 4th District congressional candidate Ron Estes, front left, thanks Sen. In this March 23, 2017, photo, Democrat James Thompson, a candidate for Kansas’ 4th Congressional District, speaks during a debate in Wichita, Kan. Ted Cruz was dispatched to campaign for Estes. James Thompson turned out to be the picture ideal Democrat candidate. “I particularly want to see some tax reform”, he said. It’s fair to say they should at least be very anxious about what Tuesday’s results underscore for their party’s popularity right now, even among their core voters. “You play every game”, Pumpelly said.

“Certainly Estes is not helped by [Republican Governor Sam] Brownback”, Loomis said, referring to the Kansas governor who recently vetoed Medicaid expansion that would have given health care to 150,000 people in the state.

Kansas GOP Treasury Secretary Bob Estes defeated Democratic newcomer James Thompson by more than 8,000 votes and almost 7 percentage points.

Estes said he’ll officially be sworn in on April 25, the House’s first voting day after returning from a Passover/Easter recess.

Thompson’s unexpectedly strong challenge is likely to galvanize Democrats in the 2018 midterms.

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel also released a statement on Estes’s victory in the special election. Former Republican congressman Mike Pompeo, whose elevation to the directorship of the Central Intelligence Agency created this special election, regularly won KS-04 by 30 points.

Estes swept the western counties in the 4th District’s special election Tuesday, claiming an overall 53 percent over Democrat James Thompson’s 46 percent and Libertarian Chris Rockhold’s 2 percent.

Democrats were hoping to score an anti-Trump victory in the district Pompeo won in November with 60 percent of the vote.

It’s more tactical than that: What a special election really does is test the national parties. That doesn’t look like a problem for Trump and the Republican Party in general; it looks like a big problem for the Kansas GOP. Last November, Trump carried the district by 30 points.

Bovard continues, “To have a House race this close in a safe GOP district within the first 100 days is troubling”. A tally Tuesday morning showed more than 12,600 donors to Thompson. Estes has also said that he does not believe we need a independent investigation into Russia’s hacking of the presidential election. Very few voters turn out for these special contests compared to regular November elections, making it hard to read too much into the results without risking inaccurate interpretations. “I mean, they’re blind with rage”. Percentage numbers were similar for Democratic support when the Democratic Party took control of both chambers after 2007.

David Carron, a 50-year-old Republican from Belle Plaine, showed up to vote in his Army uniform.

Four-term U.S. Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-Indian Land, resigned the 5th District seat in February to become Trump’s budget director.

And Trump helped solidify the victory by campaigning from afar.

Trump on Wednesday submitted a Tweet celebrating Estes’ victory. And the GOP has struggled to put away a trio of special election House races in districts where it won easily just last November.

“I’m ready to support him”, former Georgia state senator Dan Moody, one of the Republicans running for the 6th district seat, said of Trump in an interview with Reuters. Estes performed 20 points worse than Trump did in this district just five months ago.

GOP efforts to maintain control of the Kansas Congressional seat vacated by CIA Director Mike Pompeo proved successful.

But in a sign of nervousness, Republicans poured money into the race late to bolster Estes.