Republican Ron Estes won a closely-watched congressional race in Kansas on April 11, marking the first special election for a House seat vacated by a Republican since Trump took office. Thompson lost, but in exactly the way that's going to stoke hurt feelings among Democrats and worries inside the GOP. In Kansas, voters who went to the polls before April 11 pretty resoundingly voted for Thompson. Why had DNC chair Tom Perez, who talked about a "57-state-and-territory strategy,” told The Washington Post (specifically, told me) that the DNC was not putting late money into the Kansas Democratic Party? In Kansas, the GOP was able to overcome lagging support by hammering one of its base's most resonant issues.

Source: Washington Post April 12, 2017 15:59 UTC