Overland Park ? Republican U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder has been re-elected in the 3rd District that covers the Kansas side of the Kansas City metropolitan area.

Yoder won his third, two-year term in Tuesday’s election by defeating Democrat and former state Sen. Kelly Kultala of Kansas City.

Democrats initially had high hopes for Kultala against Yoder even though she lost her state Senate seat in 2012 after redistricting.

But Yoder entered the final weeks of the campaign with more than $1.6 million in cash on hand, after raising $2 million in contributions since the start of 2013.

Kultala raised about $327,000 for her campaign and had about $17,000 in cash on hand in mid-October.

Yoder is a former Kansas House member who served as the chairman of its Appropriations Committee.