National Republicans had pulled out all the stops in the campaign’s final days to boost Estes and keep the seat formerly held by Mike Pompeo, now the director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
They dispatched Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to Wichita to rally the troops on Monday and had the president and Vice President Mike Pence record robocalls on Estes’ behalf. The National Republican Congressional Committee funded a last-minute ad blitz slamming Thompson on abortion.
After trailing in early returns, Estes pulled ahead on the strength of rural counties in the 4th Congressional District. Thompson won the more urban Sedgwick County by a small margin. Estes won overall with 52.5 percent of the vote to Thompson’s 45.7 percent. Libertarian Chris Rockhold drew 1.7 percent.
