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Kansas state Treasurer Ron Estes held off a stronger-than-expected challenge from Democratic civil rights attorney James Thompson Tuesday night as the GOP won the first special congressional election since President Trump's inauguration.

The election was held to fill the House seat vacated by CIA Director Mike Pompeo, a former three-term representative of Kansas' 4th district.

Estes won 53 percent of the vote to 46 percent for Thompson. The Republican's margin of victory was just over 8,000 votes. By contrast, Pompeo won re-election in November by 31 percentage points and 85,000 votes.

In a speech to supporters in Wichita, Thompson vowed that he would run for the seat again in 2018 and argued that the result was evidence that no Republican district is safe.

The race had been closely watched nationally for signs of a backlash against Republicans or waning support from Trump voters in a reliably GOP district. Trump won 60 percent of the votes cast in the 17-county congressional district this past November.

The president himself entered the fray Monday with a recorded get-out-the-vote call on Estes' behalf and tweeted his support on Tuesday morning.

Other nationally known Republicans pitched in over the final days of the race. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas campaigned for Estes Monday in Wichita, while Vice President Mike Pence also recorded a get-out-the-vote call. The National Republican Congressional Committee spent roughly $90,000 in last-minute TV and digital ads.

Thompson reckoned that the high-profile support for Estes helped push him over the top, and claimed he could have won had national Democrats rallied to him sooner.Readers of the liberal blog Daily Kos donated more than $200,000 to Thompson in the final days of the race. Thompson was also backed by Our Revolution, the group that grew out of Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign.

"You fight," Thompson said when asked what the results should show Democrats. "You play every game."

All those GOP calls prompted Charlene Health, a 52-year-old homemaker and Republican in Belle Plaine, to cast a ballot for Estes.

"I wasn't even going to vote," she said as she left her polling site Tuesday morning. "I finally did. I realized this was important."

Alan Branum, 64, a retired construction worker is a Wichita Democrat who voted for Estes and plans to change his party affiliation to Republican since he leans more conservative. He thinks Trump has been been doing fine so far.

"I don't think it is fair people condemn him," he said of the president. "He hasn't been in long enough to make a judgment. People need to give him some time."

Estes supported Trump last year and backs the president's policies. He supports the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act, backs funding for a wall on the border with Mexico, opposes funding for Planned Parenthood, and does not believe an independent investigation into Russian hacking of the election is needed.

Lucy Jones-Phillips, a 31-year-old insurance representative and Democrat, acknowledged she doesn't vote in every election, but said she voted for Thompson because she wanted to ensure supporters of Gov. Sam Brownback are not in office. She was especially upset when the Republican governor recently vetoed Medicaid expansion.

"I can't stand Brownback," she said as she left her polling site in Belle Plaine.

Thompson tried to tap into voter frustration with Brownback throughout the campaign, tying the state treasurer to the unpopular Republican governor. Thompson has called the Kansas congressional election more of a referendum on Brownback than on Trump.

But Thomas Hauser, 67, of Belle Plaine, a Republican who works in the information technology industry, said he crossed party lines in Tuesday's election to vote for Thompson. He also didn't vote for Trump in the last year's general election. Thompson appealed to Hauser in part because both men are ex-military but also because "I don't believe in the (GOP) line."

Republicans have represented the south-central Kansas district since 1994. The district has been hard hit by the downturn in the agricultural economy and the loss of hundreds of well-paying, blue-collar jobs in aircraft manufacturing plants.

With Estes' victory, Republicans are now defending three GOP-leaning seats in upcoming special elections in Georgia, Montana and South Carolina. Democrats are protecting a seat in a liberal California district.

Fox News' Lee Ross and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Republican holds on in closely-watched Kansas special House ...

BILLINGS, Mont. Rob Quist, the Democratic candidate for Montanas sole U.S. House seat, had a problem. Big Sky Rising, the local progressive group one of many that grew out of the National Womens March had filled a room for his speech.

But the room didnt have a sound system for Quist, a 69-year-old folk musician, to strum and sing his campaign theme song.

Let me just recite a poem for you about how I feel about our public lands, said Quist. Her gown is luscious green when she attends the annual springtime ball. And she fancies orange and gold and harvest moon in the fall. Her wild and natural beauty it will take away your breath. Oh, but take her for granted? It could easily mean your death.

It had been just 48 hours since a surprisingly close special election in Kansas kicked off Republican hand-wringing about forfeiting Montanas May 25 special election to replace ex-Rep. Ryan Zinke (R), now President Trumps interior secretary.

The Democratic candidate in Montana is a mustachioed 6-foot-3 poet who appears everywhere churches, fundraisers, and television interviews in a white cowboy hat and black Ariat boots.

That cowboy-poet has raised $1.3 million so far and was competitive with a self-funding Republican contender Greg Gianforte, who jumped into the race after a near-miss 2016 gubernatorial run. President Trump easily won Montana, but Democrats still compete strongly for statewide offices.

Republicans, flush with cash but facing unbridled Democratic enthusiasm, are taking Quist a bit more seriously. On Thursday, the National Republican Congressional Committee began a $273,000 digital and TV ad buy, accusing Quist of singing in harmony with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). The GOP-allied Congressional Leadership Fund is committing at least $1 million to the race, though Executive Director Corey Bliss said last week that Quist had no chance to win.

Rob Quist is such a pathetic candidate that we almost feel bad running ads against him, said Bliss. At the end of the day hell lose by double-digits.

Montana is one of five special elections this year in open House seats four of them vacated when Trump plucked Republican lawmakers to become part of his administration. So far, Democrats are doing better than anticipated in conservatives seats including Kansas, where the Democrat came within seven points last Tuesday of a winning a seat Trump nabbed by 27 points.

But while the Georgia race is seen as a test for the rising electorate of minority voters and highly educated white voters, the Montana race is a test for populism. Quist, who backed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for president, portrays Gianforte as a plutocrat who will work only for his class. Its the argument Democrats failed to stick to Trump, and one they want to see working in the places where working-class white voters bolted their party.

Gianforte, whos been criticized for holding few public events, plans to welcome Donald Trump Jr. an avid hunter who argued for Zinke at Interior to the state next week. The first son will swing into Montana for rallies and fundraisers, $25 a pop.

Quist, who won the Democratic nomination at a January convention, professes to be thrilled with the GOP attention. On Thursday, at two public events in Billings, he told Big Sky Rising and a separate room of union members that he could smell the fear coming from the right.

One of my top priorities in Congress will be to stop these corporate interests from dictating policy, Quist told pipefitters at their Billings union hall. When I was younger, there was a graph that showed the distribution of wealth across the classes. Now, if you look at the same graph, its flat across the bottom, and when you get to the super-rich, they have so much of the wealth that it flies off the page.

Soft-spoken left-wing populism like that helped Quist become the nominee. Our Revolution, the group founded by Sanders, has endorsed Quist and in an interview last week, Sanders said he was looking for an opportunity to stump for him.

If you look up Montana in the dictionary, you see a picture of Rob Quist, said Rep. Denny Heck (D-Wash.), who chairs the Democratic Congressional Committees recruitment program.

Rob Quists as Montana as Montana can get, said Gov. Steve Bullock (D-Mont.), who defeated Gianforte, Quists opponent, just five months ago. Hes been in all these small communities. Hes working hard. He reflects our values.

The implication is that none of those kinds of words apply to Gianforte. Crisp and confident, the Republican moved to Montana 24 years ago and grew a software company, RightNow Technologies, out of Bozeman. (He was 33, having sold his first company for $10 million.) In Quists TV ads, he argues there are enough millionaires in Congress and brands Gianforte as an East Coast arriviste.

At the same time, Montanans elected a New York real-estate businessman to the presidency a leap of faith that informs how Gianforte now campaigns. In his TV ads, he promises to drain the swamp and stick it to political elites.

On Thursday, as Quist stumped in Billings, Gianforte met with local business and political leaders seven hours away in Kalispell in conservative Flathead County.

Gianforte, wearing a flag-pinned blazer over a checked shirt, shared the gospel of free markets. We got here with a series of steps over a period of time, and I think thats how we dig ourselves out, he said. I am encouraged that we have President Trump in the White House because for the first time we have an opportunity to effect change. And I want to be a part of it because I dont want to see our country squander it.

In an interview, Gianforte paused when asked why outside groups were investing in the race. I do believe and we saw this recently with the health-care conversation that went on for the administration to advance their agenda, they need the votes in the House, he said. National groups have gotten involved because they want to help. Ill always be on Montanas side, but Im going to help Donald Trump advance his agenda.

At a Quist fundraiser last week, attendees grabbed lawn signs using the same stylized signature as his album cover as they left. They said there was energy they didnt feel when Hillary Clinton was running for president.

Its an opportunity to kick the Republicans in the butt, said Steve Griswold, 67, a retiree from Wisconsin.

Becky Weed, a 57-year old sheep rancher, pointed out that the event was less than a mile from Gianfortes home. Democrats cut into the Republicans support by publicizing his 2009 legal battle to stop public access to the part of a stream that ran through his property.

Im immersed in the ranch culture, and people I know generally vote Republican, Weed said. But theyre willing to go for something different, especially when youve got public lands at stake.

The Republican plan is to brand Quist as a liberal in cowboy clothing, more Willie Nelson than Hank Williams Jr. Its doomsday weapon is an interview Quist gave to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. After talking about his guns and his luck as a hunter, he mused that assault weapons, no good for hunting, might need to be registered.

Theyre only meant to kill people, he said, so maybe there should be some legislation to register those types of things. You register your car to drive, why not register guns?

It was the gaffe of a novice candidate, and Republicans pounced. The NRCCs first ad tells voters that Quist wants a national gun registry. The National Rifle Association is expected to swing into the race with the same message. On the stump, Gianforte never misses a swing at the gun issue. Im a strong supporter of the Second Amendment he believes in gun registration, he said in Kalispell. The next day, he warned a Republican crowd in Missoula that registration is the first step toward confiscation.

Quist said in an interview that hed been ripped out of context.

I was talking about fully automatic assault rifles, he said. I was taught that if it takes you more than one shot to bring big game down, you shouldnt be in the woods.

Quist advised anyone campaigning for him to point out the gun attack was coming from special interests. There were guns in the Quist home, he said, that had been there longer than Gianforte had been in Montana.

All these sports groups know this is a smoke screen, said Quist. The number-one reason that people no longer hunt or fish is loss of access to public lands.

Quist was more relaxed when it came to attacks on his finances. It was true, he said, that hed faced $15,000 tax liens and settled in 2016. But he has a multi-millionaire to defeat.

I probably should have declared bankruptcy, he said. But thats not the Montana way.

Margaret Grayson contributed reporting from Missoula.

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This cowboy-poet is trying to steal a Republican House seat in Montana - Washington Post

Residents gather at Rep. Barbara Comstocks (R-VA) district officer in Sterling, Va., on April 11, 2017, to urge lawmaker to push back against President Donald Trumps anti-environment agenda. CREDIT: Indivisible VA District10

STERLING,VIRGINIAWhen Congress recessed in February, many Republican lawmakers across the country refused to meet with their constituents. Those who dared to show up at town hall-style events faced outrage over GOP plans to repeal Obamacare.

As lawmakers traveled home this week for spring break, constituents were less concerned about health care issues, after Republicans failed in their initial attempt since Donald Trump assumed the presidency to repeal President Barack Obamas signature Affordable Care Act. With many Americans breathing easier about their health care, other issues, such as environmental protection and climate action, rose in prominence.

Rep. Barbara Comstock, a Republican who represents a portion of Northern Virginia, refused to hold a public forum in February and once again doesnt plan to meet with constituents during the current two-week recess.

In February, about 150 residents showed up for a citizens town hall where a chair sat empty at a table with Comstocks name on a card. This week, angry constituents held daily protests outside Comstocks district office in Sterling, Virginia.

Tuesdays protest, in a grassy area along a busy highway outside her office, was designated Toxic Tuesday, with a focus on the environment.

Comstock has told her constituents that she is an all-of-the-above energy strategy supporter, Chris Tandy, co-chairman of the environmental group 350 Loudoun, told ThinkProgress on Friday outside Comstocks office. We dont think thats appropriate, he said. What were looking for is a reduction to fossil fuel consumption to protect the environment.

With cars honking their support for the residents, Tandy expressed dismay at Trumps unwillingness to recognize the importance of the Paris climate agreement in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Paris climate deal is about the most historic climate agreement that weve ever reached. We should stay in it. We should meet our obligations under it, he said.

Tandy, who plans to attend the climate march in Washington, D.C., on April 29, also blasted Trumps choice of former Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency. It would have been nice if the current administration had appointed someone to the EPA who believes in the mission of the EPA and wasnt seemingly trying to dismantle it, discredit its scientists, he said.

Comstock may understand her party-line votes arent in step with the views of the majority of her constituents, Tandy suggested. It seems like even conservative voters are coming out for the environment in some places, he said. I think theres a lot of middle ground on environmental issues.

Climate change is popping up as a major concern in other congressional districts during the spring recess. Unlike some of his Republican colleagues, Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) has not been shy about holding town hall meetings. The libertarian-leaning Republican held a town hall meeting in Byron Township, Michigan, on Tuesday. Unlike previous public forums, the primary discussion item was climate change.

However, when asked about climate change, Amash responded that he believes the climate changes. His solution to global warming was a strong economy, which was met with boos by the audience, as reported by MLive.com.

Amash echoed the Trump administrations position on the EPA, saying it frequently oversteps its bounds. There are places where the EPA should have a role, but I do think the EPA overreaches. I do support eliminating the EPAs authority over those things, he said.

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Republican remains a town hall no-show as climate change claims spotlight in Virginia - ThinkProgress

Verify: is CD2 growing more red

Chris Facchini, WLBZ 9:08 PM. EDT April 14, 2017

(Photo: NEWS CENTER)

AUGUSTA, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- The Maine GOP issued a press release Monday celebrating the news that Maine was more Republican than the national as a whole, according to a new report out over the weekend.

"We just received some great news over the weekend! Maine's Second Congressional District is now a Republican +2 District according to the Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index," said Jason Savage, executive director of the Maine Republican Party. "A Partisan Voting Index score of R+2 means the district performed two points more Republican than the national average. This is a tectonic shift for Maine in the last few years."

NEWS CENTER checked the Cook Political Report's Website. Its "Partisan Voter Index" compares how our districts voted in the last two presidential elections as compared to the national average.

It does indeed show Maine as an R+2. We can verify this information is accurate. The data used does match data from the secretary of state's office.

Is this a tectonic shift? Certainly. If you go back to the index for the 2012 and 2008 elections, the 2nd District was a D+2. In the 2008 and 2004 elections, it was a D+3. That's a five-point swing in the last 12 years.

"Since 1988 the 2nd [District] has gone Democratic at least in the presidential elections, and so this is significant, " said Democratic political analyst John Richardson. "This report, I think, shows there's a trend and the trend is moving towards Republicans in the 2nd Congressional District."

"The 2nd Congressional District has been Republican for decades," said Republican political analyst Phil Harriman. "Rep. Mike Michaud campaigned as a moderate Democrat but governed perhaps a little more to the left. You talk about issues like gun rights, hunting, less government I think the 2nd Congressional District has been solid in that mindset for decades."

More people are voting Republican in the 2nd District, so are there more Republicans? NEWS CENTER looked into the numbers of registered voters in the 2nd District from the last election cycle.

A total of 29.3 percent of voters are registered Democrats and 29.1 percent are registered Republicans, but the largest number by far are unenrolled voters at nearly 36.6 percent. Greens and Libertarians make up the other 5 percent. That's according to data provided by the Maine Secretary of State's office.

2017 WLBZ-TV

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VERIFY: Is Maine's 2nd District more Republican than the nation as a whole? - WCSH-TV

CHAMBLEE, Ga. Looking at just the history, the case for a Democratic victory in the special election in Georgias 6th Congressional District is thin. The district has voted for Republicans stretching all the way back to 1978, when Newt Gingrich first won the seat. In the years since Republicans have won re-election in the district by large margins. Tom Price, who vacated the seat to become President Donald Trumps secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, first won the district in 2004 running unopposed. And he has brushed off all Democratic challengers since then, never once having less than 60 percent of the vote.

But with Price gone and Democrats looking to take out some political frustration withTrump, the race in Georgias 6th Congressional District has taken on national significance. Democrat Jon Ossoff, buoyed by local activism and a flood of outside money, is working to pull off an upset on April 18. If Ossoff can take home more than 50 percent of the vote as he facesa fractured Republican field, hell win the seat outright. If he falls short of that figure, hell have to make it through a June runoff against a single Republican opponent.

Where the Democrats see their opportunity is in the yawning disparity between Tom Prices 2016 margin of victory in the district and Trumps. Price was re-elected in November with a 23-point spread, but Trump carried the district only by 1.5 percentage points over his rival Hillary Clinton. In the 2012 presidential election, Mitt Romney won the district with 61 percentof the voteto Barack Obamas 37percent.

So why did the 2016 race in Georgias 6th Congressional District result in so much ticket splitting in what has historically been extremely favorable territory for the GOP? The answer is complicated, but the abridged version is because demographics in the district are changing and certain flavors of Republican voters despise Donald Trump.

That area has changed; its changing, said Dante Chinni, director of the American Communities Project at George Washington University. Increasingly it is the kind of district that looks like a bad fit for the Trump Republican Party. Georgias 6th Congressional District is largely white but becomingmore diverse. And its full of wealthier, more educated voters who just arent that receptive to Trumpism or actively recoil from it.

I loved George W. [Bush], but I could not vote for Donald Trump, Vicki Ingram, a retiree in the district told me. Ingram was one of the people who split theirticket in 2016; she voted against Trump but for Tom Price. Most of the Republican candidates running to replace Price had alienated her with negative campaigning, so this week she attendeda Jon Ossoff event at the encouragement of her husband. Im sick to death of both parties, she said, before mentioning that she liked Ossoffs positivity. When I asked if she could see herself voting for the Democrat, she said, Absolutely.

On Thursday morning I tagged along on a canvasing trip with Jim Lester, a gregarious 66-year-old Ossoff volunteer who manages rental properties. (He spent the trip doing on-the-spot housing inspections of the exteriors of the homes we visited; most of them failed.) Lester told me he was drawn to Ossoff because the candidate is very Kennedy-esque, adding, I perceive him to be a moderate.A Democrat, Lestervoted for Hillary Clinton in the general election but hadcast a vote for John Kasich in Georgias Republican primary. That was a strategic vote, he said, to try todeny Trump a win in the state. But Lester added, I could be very happy with John Kasich as president.

As Lester and I tromped through a neighborhood called Chateau Woods, we stopped to chat with Bob Wolford, an independent who had voted for Republicans in the past but had cast an early ballot for Ossoff the previous day. We are practically in a one-party state, Wolford explained to me when I asked why hehad voted for the Democrat. With Republicans controlling Congress, the White House and a majority of state legislatures, Wolfordexplained, Im only going to vote for a Democrat because thats the only way to get opposition in the government.

Republicans recent attacks against Ossoff also seem to have had a negative impact on Republicans. Wolford said that he was turned off by the GOPsattack adsabout Ossoff. Ive seen one positive ad on the Republican side, he said. All the other ads say if youre voting for Ossoff, youre voting for ISIS.

The running theme I encountered when talking to voters in Georgias 6th Congressional District was frustration with Trump, partisan rigidity and negative politicking. Ossoff has positioned himself to capitalize on that frustration and the shifting demographics, but hes still a Democrat running in a historically Republican district. The politics of Georgias sixth district are changing and Trump seems to be catalyzing that political shift. Well know soon whether the district has changed enough to elect its first Democratic representative in nearly four decades.

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Frustration with Trump down South: The changing politics of reliably Republican congressional district propels Jon ... - Salon