Officials certify special Congressional election

Topeka (ap) — Republican Ron Estes will take his seat in Congress Tuesday after Kansas officials certified his victory in the state’s special election.

Gov. Sam Brownback, state Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Assistant Secretary of State Eric Rucker on Monday certified the results in the race for Kansas’ 4th Congressional District seat. Estes will replace former Republican Rep. Mike Pompeo, who was chosen by President Donald Trump to head the CIA.

Totals released Monday show Estes defeated Democrat James Thompson by 6.2 percentage points, strong challenge by a Democrat in a historically GOP district. Pompeo was re-elected to the seat by about 30 percentage points in November.