Kansas officials Monday certified the results of the 4th District special election where Republican State Treasurer Ron Estes beat Democrat James Thompson for a seat in Congress.
The voter turnout was under 30 percent. That's less than half the turnout for the November 2016 vote. Kansas Director of Elections Bryan Caskey said it can be hard to attract attention for special elections.
“I think people are conditioned to –when it’s a congressional election– we vote in the even years," said Caskey. "When you get into the spring time, you get into schools and sports and people have busy lives,"
This was the first congressional special election in Kansas since 1950. Estes will replace Mike Pompeo, who stepped down after being chosen by President Trump to head the CIA.