A Kansas district just swung a full 20 points, but not enough to put James Thompson over the top

In a Kansas district that Trump won by 27 points in November, Democrat James Thompson appears to have fallen short in his bid to flip it. But the race will wind up being a single-digit loss when all the votes are counted -- probably six points, I'd guess. For Democrats, this battle wasn't in vain. The close margin means that if you're a House or Senate Republican and you won your last election by 20 points or less, you're starting to think a bit differently about your own politics. And that means the every-man-for-himself attitude is much likelier to prevail in Congress, which means it's going to be very hard for Trump to get his agenda through. To see it in action, consider this: Ron Estes, the guy who just won, said during the campaign he was against TumpCare. And a week from today Georgia voters go to the polls in suburban Atlanta for a special election that they should be winning easily, but are in a dogfight instead. My story on the Kansas race is here, which includes a few interviews with newsletter readers who happen to live in Wichita: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kansas-election-thompson-estes_us_58ed1c4ce4b0df7e2045ff89?pkv& Speaking of voting, thanks to everybody who voted for us for top podcast earlier Tuesday. We shot up from fifth place to third, much more respectable, but first place would be more fun. If you haven't voted yet and have time tomorrow, here's the link: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2017/podcasts-digital-audio/general-podcasts/news-information You're getting this email because you either signed up for it or you took a survey and opted in to this newsletter -- or, probably, you declined to opt out. Either way, I hope you're enjoying it. I'm a political reporter and editor with The Huffington Post and I send this several times a week. If you see an ad here, it's there because sending mass emails turns out to be really expensive. I'm not making any money off of it; it goes to the email service provider and just defrays the cost a bit. If you want to contribute directly to help keep the thing running, you can do so here, though be warned a donation comes with no tote bags or extra premium content or anything. If somebody forwarded you this note, you can sign up to start getting your own copy here. Sent via ActionNetwork.org. To update your email address or to stop receiving emails from Bad News, please click here.