In November, Pompeo won reelection in the district by 32 percent, while President Donald Trump won the district by 27 percent. The Republican's margin was just under 6,500 votes. Couple that fact with the knowledge that millions of of eligible voters chose not to vote in the 2016 presidential election - and that in 14 states more voted in down-ballot races than for president - and the sources of much of the anxiety analysts are seeing around the looming midterms grow clearer. And Thompson, who was originally a long shot, saw seen a last-minute surge of support for his candidacy, enough to get him close to toppling Estes in the deep-red district.
On Sunday, Thompson said that regardless of the outcome of the race, he felt he had already won because he had shown that Democrats could make a Republican district competitive by running on an unapologetically progressive platform.
Trump won 60 percent of the votes cast in the 17-county congressional district that includes the state's largest city of Wichita. The National Republican Congressional Committee came through with a last minute ad buy, and on Tuesday morning, President Trump tweeted about the vote.
In the afternoon on Monday, the Cook Political Report, which had been predicting the race to "likely" go to Estes, downgraded that prediction to a "lean" toward the Republican.
Kansas House Minority Leader Jim Ward, a Wichita Democrat, said that Mr. Brownback and Mr. Trump's early stumbles in the president both hurt Mr. Estes' campaign.
Thompson grabbed an early lead in the race, but Estes quickly closed the gap.
Thompson, 46, a political newcomer backed by a group aligned with Sen. Sanders crushed Hillary Clinton here in the 2016 caucuses, and many Sanders activists stayed inside the party to win leadership positions.
In the final 24 hours of the race, the Democrat attended a Seder with Jewish voters, recorded a "thank you" video for volunteers, shook hands at a breakfast for Learjet retirees, and (through a translator) sat for an interview with Wichita's Spanish-language radio station. "You play every game". The Belle Plaine couple voted for Estes.
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Thomas Hauser, a 67-year-old Belle Plaine resident and traditionally a Republican says he voted for Democrat James Thompson on Tuesday, in part because they share a military background. "I finally did. I realized this was important".
"I think the key was that Republicans took this for granted", Mr. Curtis said.
Trump's picks for top jobs in his administration and a California Democratic appointment have created five openings in the U.S. House, where Republicans have a 237-193 edge.
"I believe that after tonight, the KS Republican Party will be 32-0 in federal and statewide elections since nominating Sam Brownback for Governor", Mr. Brownback's former chief of staff, David Kensinger, said in an email.
Thompson tried to tap into voter frustration with Brownback throughout the campaign, tying the state treasurer to the unpopular Republican governor.
Next week, Democrats and Republicans will get a rematch in Georgia's Sixth Congressional District - where Democrat Jon Ossoff has raised more money and is doing better in polling than nearly anyone predicted. Its members donated more than $200,000 to Thompson's campaign in just a few short days.
It was the first special congressional election since Donald Trump's election as president.
Republicans have represented the south-central Kansas district since 1994.
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