Kansas's 4th congressional district special election, 2017

Kansas's 4th congressional district special election, 2017
April 11, 2017
Kansas's 4th congressional district

 
Nominee Ron Estes James Thompson
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 64,044 56,435
Percentage 52.2% 46.0%
Results by county
U.S. Representative before election

Mike Pompeo
Republican

 Elected U.S. Representative

Ron Estes
Republican

A special election was held on April 11, 2017, to determine the member of the United States House of Representatives for Kansas's 4th congressional district after the incumbent, Mike Pompeo, resigned because of his nomination by President Donald Trump as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Republican Ron Estes received 52.2% of the vote and won, while runner-up Democrat James Thompson lost with 46% of the vote.

Election

On January 23, 2017, the U.S. Representative for Kansas's 4th congressional district, Mike Pompeo, resigned after being nominated by President Donald Trump as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He was confirmed by the United States Senate. Gov. Sam Brownback had five days to declare a special election to be held between 45 and 60 days after being called.[1] The day following Pompeo's resignation, Brownback declared a special election to take place on April 11.[2]

Nominees for each party were selected by a district convention of party activists. Independent candidates were eligible to gain ballot access upon submitting 3,000 signatures within the first 25 days after the election was called.[3]

Although not initially expecting a close race, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) spent $100,000 on advertising in the last week of the campaign, and Republican luminaries such as Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, President Donald Trump, and Vice President Mike Pence recorded robocalls or campaigned in person supporting their nominee Ron Estes.[4][5] On April 10, the Cook Political Report moved the rating of the district to Lean Republican.[6] Estes won the election by 6.2% over political newcomer James Thompson. This not only marked a dramatic shift from the 61.6%–29.6% margin that Pompeo had been re-elected by in the previous year's regularly-scheduled election, but this was also the closest race in the district since incumbent Todd Tiahrt, who held the seat from 1995 to 2011, edged out Democrat Randy Rathburn by 3% in 1996.[7]

Republican Party

The Republican Party selected a nominee at a convention held on February 9, 2017.[8]

Candidates

Nominated

Eliminated at convention

Withdrawn

Declined

Endorsements

Ron Estes
Federal Politicians

Results

Republican Convention
Candidate First ballot Pct. Second ballot Pct.
Ron Estes 58 46% 66 52%
Alan Cobb 28 22% 43 34%
Todd Tiahrt 20 16% 17 14%
Joseph Ashby 10 8% Eliminated
George Bruce 10 8% Eliminated

Democratic Party

The Democratic Party selected a nominee at a convention held on February 11, 2017.[8]

Candidates

Nominated

  • James Thompson, attorney and U.S. Army veteran[22][23]

Eliminated at convention

Withdrawn

  • Kevass Harding, former Wichita School Board member[8]

Declined

Endorsements

James Thompson
U.S. Senators

Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator from Vermont

Organizations

Our Revolution

Results

Democratic Convention
Candidate First ballot Pct. Second ballot Pct.
James Thompson 17 44% 21 54%
Dennis McKinney 16 41% 18 46%
Laura Lombard 3 8% Eliminated
Charlie Walker 3 8% Eliminated
Robert Tillman 0 0% Eliminated

Libertarian Party

The Libertarian Party selected a nominee at a convention held on February 11, 2017.[8]

Candidates

Nominated

Eliminated at convention

  • Gordon Bakken, candidate for this seat in 2016
  • John Kostner, farmer and rancher

Results

Libertarian Convention
Candidate First ballot Pct.
Chris Rockhold 17 85%
Gordon Bakken 3 15%
John Kostner 0 0%

General election

Polling

Poll source Date(s)
administered		 Sample
size		 Margin
of error		 Ron
Estes (R)		 James
Thompson (D)		 Chris
Rockhold (L)		 Undecided
Lincoln Park Strategies (D-Thompson) Late February 2017 500 ± 4.4% 56% 32% 4% –

Results

The Associated Press called the election for Estes while he was leading by 6% with 88% of precincts reporting. The lead was 6.2% when all the votes were tallied.[31][32]

Kansas's 4th congressional district special election, 2017[33]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Republican Ron Estes 64,044 52.2% -8.5%
Democratic James Thompson 56,435 46.0% +16.4%
Libertarian Chris Rockhold 2,115 1.7% -1.1%
Total votes 122,594 100.0%
Republican hold

See also

References

  1. ↑ Evans, Scott. "If Rep. Mike Pompeo takes over CIA, how is his House seat replaced?". Retrieved December 1, 2016.
  2. ↑ Press, Associated (January 25, 2017). "Governor sets April 11 election to fill Pompeo's seat". Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  3. ↑ Hancock, Peter (January 12, 2017). "Kansas House passes bill on special elections for Congress as Pompeo stands for confirmation for CIA". Lawrence Journal-World. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  4. ↑ Bradner, Eric (2017-04-10). "GOP cavalry heads to Kansas ahead of close House election". Cnn.com. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
  5. ↑ "Trump records robocall for Kansas special election". TheHill. 2017-04-10. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
  6. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 10, 2017. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  7. 1 2 "Former U.S. Rep. Tiahrt exploring whether to seek old seat". Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Faulx, Nadya (February 8, 2017). "Kansas Parties To Select Candidates For 4th District Special Election". KMUW. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  9. ↑ Tv, Ksn (January 25, 2017). "State Treasurer Ron Estes announces run for 4th Congressional District seat". Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  10. ↑ Lefler, Dion (February 9, 2017). "Estes wins GOP nomination for Pompeo seat". The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
  11. ↑ Dinell, David (February 1, 2017). "Congressional seat sought by Derby man". The Derby Informer. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  12. ↑ Salazar, Daniel (January 10, 2017). "Wichita lawyer George Bruce announces run for Congress". The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  13. 1 2 "Here's the latest on who's running for Pompeo's seat in Congress". Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  14. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 27, 2017. Retrieved January 25, 2017.
  15. ↑ "Eric Kidwell announces bid for 4th Congressional District seat". KWCH. January 31, 2017. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Who wants to replace Mike Pompeo in Congress?". The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
  17. ↑ Ryan, Kelsey (January 12, 2017). "Wichita council member Pete Meitzner to run for Pompeo's seat". The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved January 14, 2017.
  18. ↑ "Meitzner withdraws from Congressional race". KAKE. February 8, 2017. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  19. 1 2 "Trump appointments have Republicans lining up for Senate, House vacancies". Retrieved December 1, 2016.
  20. 1 2 "Field narrows again in race to replace Pompeo". The Wichita Eagle. November 30, 2016. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  21. ↑ Lowry, Bryan (January 24, 2017). "Here's the latest on who's running for Pompeo's seat in Congress". The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  22. ↑ matthew.heilman. "James Thompson announces campaign for 4th Congressional District". Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  23. ↑ Lefler, Dion (February 11, 2017). "Lawyer James Thompson wins Democratic nomination for Congress". The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 Eckels, Carla (December 13, 2016). "Several Kansas Democrats Interested In Running For 4th District Seat". KMUW. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
  25. ↑ Ryan, Kelsey (January 13, 2017). "Laura Lombard to run as Democrat for Pompeo's seat". The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  26. ↑ "Former lawmaker Dennis McKinney to announce bid for Congress - Statehouse Live / LJWorld.com". Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  27. ↑ "Charlie Walker 4 KS (@charliewalkerKS) - Twitter". Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  28. ↑ Lefler, Dion (February 6, 2017). "15 things you need to know about the race to replace Pompeo". The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  29. ↑ Rockhold, Chris (January 25, 2017). "Chris Rockhold". Facebook. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  30. ↑ Finger, Stan (February 11, 2017). "Chris Rockhold earns Libertarian nod for 4th District special election". The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
  31. ↑ "Live results: Kansas special election". TheHill. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
  32. ↑ "Live Results: Republicans Defend House Seat in Kansas Special Election". Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  33. ↑ http://www.kssos.org/elections/17elec/2017_Special_Election_Official_Results.pdf
Official campaign websites
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.