The political landscape doesn’t get a whole lot redder than Kansas’s 4th Congressional District, but somehow, Republicans are sweating the April 11 (that’s today!) special election there to replace Mike Pompeo, Donald Trump’s CIA director.
How red is this district? It’s so red that when the executive director of a Republican Super PAC tries to show confidence by saying that “We’ll win the Kansas election by double digits,” he might actually be trying to lower expectations. Trump won this district by 27 points, after all. But Republicans are clearly freaking out. In addition to a six-figure ad buy by the National Republican Congressional Committee, Donald Trump recorded a call for the Republican candidate, state treasurer Ron Estes. So did Mike Pence. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz flew in to campaign for Estes.
Republicans are ready to make excuses:
If Republicans do try to use not having engaged until the end as an excuse, though, they should be laughed out of town. Here’s how little support the Democrat, civil rights lawyer James Thompson, got until Republican panic alerted Democrats to the possibility that there was a real race here:
When his campaign asked the state Democratic Party to fund a mailer, it was turned down, later investing just $3,000.
Now, Daily Kos readers have given Thompson a late surge of money, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is making 25,000 live calls into the district. It’s still the longest of the long shots, but the scare Thompson is putting into Republicans shows just how much the political landscape may be shifting.
Do you live in the district? Here's information on how to vote. Do you have time to phonebank for James Thompson? Here's how!