Yes, Kansas is still a deep red state, but things aren't going particularly well there for the GOP right now.
1. They have the 2nd most unpopular Governor in the US* -- Sam Brownback, he of the once heralded and now miserably failed great experiment in conservative economic theory. (He held the #1 spot last year.)
2. Despite Trump's 20.7-point margin of victory over Clinton in Kansas, Democrats picked up a seat in the state Senate and 12 seats in the House.
3. Trump won the 4th Congressional District by a 27.2 percentage-point margin over Hillary Clinton. Republican Ron Estes defeated Democrat James Thompson by a 6.8-point margin in yesterday's special election. That's major-league shrinkage.
No, Donald, it was not a great win for the GOP.
Related reading:
Why Republicans are worried about Kansas. (FiveThirtyEight, 4/11/2017)
No Democrat has won a House race in Kansas’s 4th Congressional District in over 20 years. It’s a Republican district, full stop. So, even a not-so-bad loss by Democrat James Thompson in Tuesday’s special election against Republican Ron Estes would be a worrying sign for the GOP.
In fact, Republicans seem a bit anxious about the race. The National Republican Congressional Committee rushed in at the last minute to spend some money in the district. And Ted Cruz came in late to campaign for Estes. Thompson is still the underdog, but anything less than a blowout victory by Estes would be a flashing warning siren for Republicans ahead of next week’s more high-profile race in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, and a preliminary sign of weakness for the GOP in the lead-up to the 2018 midterms.
Related post:
The Donald Trump shrinkage factor besets GOP in Kansas 4th Congressional District. (4/12/2017)
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