With Trump’s Help, Republicans Notch Win in Kansas

Republican House candidate Ron Estes won his special election yesterday for the seat vacated by the new CIA director Mike Pompeo, despite a last-minute surge by his Democratic opponents that had Republicans scrambling. “I probably shouldn’t say this, Mr. Estes did not beat us,” said James Thompson, Estes’ Democratic opponent, according to The Washington Post. “It took a president of the United States, the vice president, the speaker of the House, a senator coming into our state,” and what he claims were untruths about his support for late-term and taxpayer-financed abortion. (Democrats try to nuance their position on abortion.) Fair enough, then.

WATCH: Will This Ad Spur a GOP Victory in Kansas?

What’s the matter with Kansas? Republicans are suddenly worried about the special election in Kansas’ 4th congressional district. Ron Estes is running for the seat Mike Pompeo vacated to head the CIA. President Trump has put his prestige on the line with a series of robocalls urging his supporters to get out and vote for Estes. It’s a district he won last November by 27 points, so that should be powerful. But the institutional GOP has another ace in the hole: abortion. According to The Hill: In a last-minute effort to boost Estes’s chances, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) spent