State Treasurer Ron Estes (R) beat Bernie Sanders-backed Democrat James Thompson in a Kansas congressional special election that became close in the final weeks of the campaign. Yet the Democratic Party stayed out of the race until the campaign’s final days, when the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee began making calls on his behalf. The grassroots Democratic resurgence can be traced back to the Women’s March the day after Trump’s inauguration, a rally in Washington that was replicated in towns and cities across the country, and drew some 5 million people into the streets ― all of it done independently of the Democratic Party party. The Kansas election, said Thompson, was as much a referendum on Gov. But he added he was heartened to see the last-minute effort the national party put in.

Source: Huffington Post April 12, 2017 02:14 UTC