A Lesson in Complacency: Kansas Special Election Goes Down to the Wire

If Republicans think the 2018 mid-term elections are “in the bag,” after Tuesday night’s special election in Kansas’ Fourth Congressional District, they are headed for an electoral disaster.

In a district where Republicans outnumber Democrats 2-to-1, Republican Ron Estes had to come from behind to win CIA Director Mike Pompeo’s former seat. The final margin of victory was 8 percentage points, but that was a 15-point reversal from the early returns, demonstrating that an all-out push by Democrats and liberal activists can still have an impact just days into President Donald Trump’s new administration.

Pompeo just won the very same district by 31 points back in November.

The liberal mainstream media, of course, are using the results to create an entirely different narrative: that Americans reject the president’s agenda. Rather, it was a lesson in what complacency can do to an election: in November, 268,000 votes were cast, compared to just 121,000 Tuesday night.

Approximately 100,000 people who voted for Pompeo in November didn’t show up to vote for Estes. Clearly, “it’s in the bag” isn’t a campaign strategy that will work in 2018.

One seat won’t make a huge difference in terms of the makeup of the Republican-dominated House of Representatives. But, it would provide plenty of opportunity for Democrats and their allies in the media to continue their efforts to delegitimize the Trump administration.

Republicans get another chance to do better when voters in Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District go to the polls next Tuesday to vote in the replacement for Secretary of Health & Human Services Dr. Tom Price. There will be 18 names—11 Republicans, five Democrats and two independents—on the ballot.

If no candidate receives at least 50 percent of the vote, there will be a runoff between the top two candidates. With fewer Democrat candidates to break up the vote, turnout for Republicans will be crucial. Price won reelection to his seat in November by 23 points. [eoa}