Republicans declared victory Tuesday night in the first congressional election since Donald Trump became president, winning a seat in Kansas that became vacant earlier this year.
Ron Estes, the Republican state treasurer of Kansas, will serve as the next U.S. representative for his state's fourth congressional district, which was vacated by Mike Pompeo when he was confirmed to serve as director of the Central Intelligence Agency in the Trump administration.
Estes won 52.5 percent of the vote, beating out Democratic civil rights attorney James Thompson, who fell short with 45.7 percent support. The Republican was expected to win the special election in a district that heavily supported GOP candidates in the 2016 elections.
In November, Pompeo won reelection in the district by 32 percent, while President Donald Trump won the district by 27 percent.
Trump tweeted his support for Estes on the day of the election, saying the state treasurer is a "wonderful guy."
Ron Estes is running TODAY for Congress in the Great State of Kansas. A wonderful guy, I need his help on Healthcare & Tax Cuts (Reform).
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 11, 2017
Much of the money that would have normally gone into the Kansas race has been diverted to the special election in Georgia's sixth district, where Democrat Jon Ossoff is currently favored in a historically Republican-safe suburb of Atlanta. Still, the National Republican Congressional Committee spent nearly $100,000 on ads in the final days of the race.
The election to fill Pompeo's old seat took on special symbolic significance as the first congressional race to take place in the Trump era.