Today, the first congressional election under President Donald Trump takes place. The race to win the Kansas's 4th congressional district once held by Central Intelligence Agency director Mike Pompeo should, by all accounts, be a lock for the GOP.
Given the attention some special election races are seeing, though, even when Trump comfortably won some of these districts in November, it is likely safe to say 2018's midterm campaigns and contests will be not only critical but contentious too.
The special election Tuesday between Democrat James Thompson and Republican Ron Estes to fill the seat vacated by CIA Director Mike Pompeo is being watched across the nation for signs of a backlash against Republicans.
This is published unedited from the PTI feed.
"My being here is indicative that I think this race matters, this race matters and it matters nationally", said Sen. The group is also spending six figures on a mailer that will be sent to every registered Democrat in the district.
But Thompson has mounted a muscular campaign that emphasizes his military service, his gun ownership, his economic populism, and his respect for immigrants, civil rights and women's rights.
If Republicans do try to use not having engaged until the end as an excuse, though, they should be laughed out of town. Trump remains popular in the district, and so is more of a barrier to Democratic victory than an asset. And I need your vote for Ron Estes on Tuesday'. Neither Price has endorsed one of the 11 Republicans running for the Atlanta suburban district.
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Voters in Kansas' fourth congressional district are heading to the polls on Tuesday in an unexpectedly close race.
But weak polling and early vote returns, driven partly by the unpopularity of Trump and Republican Gov. Sam Brownback - ranked America's least popular governor previous year - have sent anxious Republicans on a last-minute frenzy to prop up GOP candidate Ron Estes. Estes, like Trump, has made reducing the regulatory burden on business a big part of his campaign.
Some folks are quick to write off Kansas' 4 District campaign as an easy GOP win. But another race is attracting millions of dollars from all over the country sucking the political oxygen - money that is - out of the Kansas 4th where fundraising is measured in hundreds of thousands.
At the same time the National Republican Congressional Committee has dropped $92,000 into the deep-red district with a full $67,111 spent on TV advertising, according to the Wichita Eagle. But a narrow result, especially one in single digits, could be a warning sign for the GOP ahead of a handful of upcoming special elections this year and next year's midterm elections. In the first two months of 2017, the Kansas Democratic Party raised $224,000. He recently hit 20,000 online donations.
While there's no reliable public polling on the race, the Cook Political Report moved the race from "solidly Republican" to "leans Republican", citing these developments.
"Our president has done a great job since he has been in office", Estes said.
"If you look at it on paper, [Democratic candidate James] Thompson shouldn't have any sort of chance, the odds are against him, but seeing Republicans rolling out these ads and pouring money into the campaign a week before the election, that suggests freaking out", said Russell Arben Fox, the director of the political science program at Friends University in Wichita.
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