The first congressional election since Trump's inauguration is happening Tuesday in Kansas

Mike Pompeo.
(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The 4th District in south-central Kansas is solidly red, but Democrats, energized by the fact they turned 12 seats in the state legislature blue in 2016, are hopeful that their candidate in Tuesday's special election will come out on top.

The election will replace Mike Pompeo, who became director of the CIA after President Trump's inauguration; in the last three congressional elections, Pompeo's Democratic challengers received just 30 percent of the vote, KMUW reports. Facing off are Democrat James Thompson, a civil rights attorney and Army vet who backs unions, has grassroots support, and was inspired to run by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Republican Ron Estes, the state treasurer and former Sedgwick County treasurer who was an early and outspoken Trump supporter and promises to cut regulations.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.