Republicans hang on to House seat in Kansas
Republicans held off a surprisingly strong Democratic challenge for a Kansas House seat in the first congressional election since President Trump’s November victory.
Voters on Tuesday picked state Treasurer Ron Estes to fill the vacancy created when Trump chose former U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo as CIA director.
Estes held off Democrat James Thompson, a civil rights attorney, to claim the 4th congressional district seat occupied by Republicans for more than two decades.
Trump won 60% of votes in November’s election in the 17-county district in south-central Kansas that includes the state’s largest city of Wichita.
The special election was closely watched for any anti-Trump backlash against Republicans.
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. But he also said he didn’t vote for Trump in the presidential election because he doesn’t “believe in the party line.”
David Carron, a 50-year-old Republican from Belle Plaine, showed up to vote in his Army uniform. He said he and his wife, Crystal, voted for Republican Ron Estes “just to support Trump.” He says he wants to see if the GOP “can get something done” with Republican majorities in the U.S. House and Senate.
Trump tweeted Tuesday about Estes, saying “Ron Estes is running TODAY for Congress in the Great State of Kansas. A wonderful guy, I need his help on Healthcare & Tax Cuts (Reform).”
The tweet followed get-out-the-vote calls that Trump and Vice President Mike Pence recorded for Estes. Trump told callers in the recording that Estes “needs your vote and needs it badly.”
Source:- https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2017/04/11/republicans-hang-house-seat-kansas/100359132/
