KS-02: Kansas Republicans fear defeat in 2018 congressional race

Anxiety over the GOP's weakened grasp on Kansas’ 2nd congressional district, which includes Topeka and Lawrence, was on full display during last month’s state party convention.

GOP Rep. Lynn Jenkins is retiring. Republicans lack a clear front runner in the race to replace her, while Democrats have coalesced around Paul Davis, a former state lawmaker who won the district during his unsuccessful campaign for governor in 2014.

"If the election were held today, (there's) a 70 percent chance Davis gets elected,” Mike Stieben, co-chair of Kansans For Life’s political action committee, told the crowd at a convention prayer breakfast.

He passed an empty KFC bucket around the room, urging people to drop in donations so his anti-abortion group could start campaigning in the district.

"We cannot elect Paul Davis," Stieben said. "And he's ahead. Wake up. We need your help."

And this was before Conor Lamb, a Pennsylvania Democrat, eked out a victory in a conservative district that in 2016 went strongly for Donald Trump, bolstering Democrats' hopes of a blue wave and spiking conservative concerns about what this could all mean for the Republican majority in Congress.




www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article205359664.html#storylink=cpy