The Democratic Party, reeling from losses suffered in 2016 presidential elections, is pinning its hopes on a lawyer overtaking a sitting state treasurer in a Special Election being held Tuesday to replace Trump’s CIA director, Mike Pompeo, as representative for the 4th congressional district of Kansas. Pompeo held the seat until he was tapped by Trump to oversee the CIA. Interestingly, many mainstream media outlets as well as Democrats have broadcast and written hopeful pieces that seem wistful in suggesting Democrat James Thompson, a U.S. Army veteran, may pull off a surprise win in the red state that Trump carried by 27 points.
Meanwhile, Republicans seem confident that their guy, Ron Estes, will carry the day.
Estes' office oversees $21 billion operation
Currently Estes’ office oversees a $21 billion operation with an annual operating budget of $3.5 million. Pres. Trump has made robo-calls in support of Estes, which prompted media and Democrats that was a sign of trouble for the GOP. While liberal media outlets like NPR and Politico claim the Republicans are worried about the special election, there are no polls or other evidence that would suggest Democrats might pull off an upset in the Kansas race. Democrats are hoping for a low turnout which they say would benefit their candidate. Meanwhile, Democratic hope - at least in media outlets - seems based on the reasoning that a lack of enthusiasm for incumbent GOP Gov.
Sam Brownback has tightened the race significantly. For their part, Republicans are confident of a win in Kansas on Tuesday.
Another race about which Democrats and their allies in the media are doing some early crowing takes place a week from Tuesday in Atlanta suburbs that Trump won by only a point. That congressional seat was recently vacated when Trump picked Tom Price for Sec.
of Health and Human Services. While the Atlanta race promises to be closer, Jon Ossoff, a 30-year-old former Capitol Hill staffer and film maker with little name recognition is not favored. For his part, Price won his seat by 23 points, showing that Republicans are strong in the district.
Democrats have showered Ossoff with cash
Nevertheless, liberals have showered Ossoff with cash, allowing the little-known candidate to rake in $8.3 million during the first quarter of this year. Republicans, on the other hand, are holding their fire by not endorsing any of the 10 Republicans running for the seat while spending money on ads attacking the Democratic candidate. Still, the GOP has a strong, stable field that includes former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, former state Sens. Dan Moody and Judson Hill and former councilman Bob Gray. If a Democrat, including Ossoff, fails to get a majority of the vote, there will be a one-on-one runoff election which should favor Republicans since Ossoff would face two more months of GOP ads and a formidable GOP candidate.
Democrats desperate for a win
Even if both Democratic candidates managed to win their special elections, it would not change much in the current Congress which Republicans control by more than 40 seats. Such an unlikely scenario, however, would give Democrats badly needed momentum after the shellacking administered to them by voters in November. Polls close in Kansas at 7 o’clock central time, except for a small west border region that is in the Mountain Time Zone.
