Republican Ron Estes narrowly wins Kansas special congressional election


Kansas state Treasurer Ron Estes (R) won a special election in the state's 4th congressional district on Tuesday, The Associated Press projects, narrowly beating Democrat James Thompson in a heavily Republican district that includes Wichita, the headquarters of Koch Industries, and hasn't elected a Democrat since 1992. The seat was vacated by Mike Pompeo, the new CIA director, who won re-election in November by 31 percentage points; Estes is expected to win by about 5 points.
This was the first congressional race since Trump's electoral victory, and Trump and Vice President Mike Pence both recorded campaign robocalls for Estes in the race's final days, while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) made a last-minute campaign stop and the the National Republican Congressional Committee poured $100,000 into the race in the final week. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee barely put any money in the race, and it and the Democratic National Committee are facing some criticism for sitting it out.
The narrow victory is seen as a warning sign for Republicans, though Gov. Sam Brownback (R) is deeply unpopular and was seen as a drag on Estes. The next big test will be a special election in Georgia's 6th district, where Democrat Jon Ossoff is currently leading a field of Republicans to fill the seat vacated by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

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 for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Quiz of The Week: 3 – 9 May
Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
-
The Week Unwrapped: Will robots benefit from a sense of touch?
Podcast Plus, has Donald Trump given centrism a new lease of life? And was it wrong to release the deadly film Rust?
-
The week's best photos
In Pictures A dancing couple, a new pope, and more
-
Fed leaves rates unchanged as Powell warns on tariffs
speed read The Federal Reserve says the risks of higher inflation and unemployment are increasing under Trump's tariffs
-
Denmark to grill US envoy on Greenland spying report
speed read The Trump administration ramped up spying on Greenland, says reporting by The Wall Street Journal
-
Supreme Court allows transgender troop ban
speed read The US Supreme Court will let the Trump administration begin executing its ban on transgender military service members
-
Hollywood confounded by Trump's film tariff idea
speed read President Trump proposed a '100% tariff' on movies 'produced in foreign lands'
-
Trump offers migrants $1,000 to 'self-deport'
speed read The Department of Homeland Security says undocumented immigrants can leave the US in a more 'dignified way'
-
Trump is not sure he must follow the Constitution
speed read When asked about due process for migrants in a TV interview, President Trump said he didn't know whether he had to uphold the Fifth Amendment
-
Trump judge bars deportations under 1798 law
speed read A Trump appointee has ruled that the president's use of a wartime act for deportations is illegal
-
Trump ousts Waltz as NSA, taps him for UN role
speed read President Donald Trump removed Mike Waltz as national security adviser and nominated him as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations