Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Thursday, March 2, 2017. Sessions said he will recuse himself from a federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 White House election. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Topeka ? Both U.S. senators from Kansas and the U.S. Representative who serves Lawrence say they’re taking a wait-and-see attitude before deciding whether embattled Attorney General Jeff Sessions should resign.

Democrats in Kansas and elsewhere, however, began demanding his resignation Thursday after the Washington Post reported that Sessions met twice during the 2016 campaign with the Russian ambassador to the United States, despite having denied any such meetings when he testified under oath at his own confirmation hearings in January.

Later Thursday Sessions, under pressure, recused himself from participating in any Justice Department probe dealing with the Russian connection to Trump’s campaign.

In response to questions from the Journal-World, Sens. Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran, as well as Rep. Lynn Jenkins, all Republicans, said they would wait for the House and Senate intelligence committees to complete their own investigations before making any judgments.

Some of their responses came as the story was still developing throughout the day Thursday.

“Attorney General Sessions has said he will recuse himself (from a separate Justice Department investigation) if appropriate,” Roberts said. “The Senate Intelligence Committee is investigating Russian election tampering. We should allow the investigations to lead us to the facts.”

Sessions was asked about Russian interference in the election because the Justice Department, which the attorney general heads, was already investigating allegations, which were based on official U.S. intelligence reports.

Moran said he is already convinced that the Russian government tried to meddle in the presidential election, but he stopped short of calling for Sessions to resign immediately.

“Russia is working to undermine democracies across the globe, and our intelligence agencies are actively gathering and analyzing all the facts to combat those efforts,” he said. “I met with allies in Europe last week and discussed the ongoing threat posed by Russia. I continue to support a bipartisan congressional intelligence committee investigation of Russian involvement in the 2016 election.”

Jenkins, who has already announced that she would not run for any public office in 2018, gave the most cautious response, saying if the congressional investigations conclude there was Russian meddling in the election, then that should be followed up with yet another “independent” investigation.

“Congressional committees have already begun a bipartisan investigation of Russian involvement in the 2016 U.S. election,” Jenkins said. “If these investigations uncover sufficient evidence that there was contact between Russia and the Trump campaign regarding the elections, then I believe we should begin an independent, bipartisan investigation into Russian ties with the Trump campaign.”

“Attorney General Sessions has already stated that he would be willing to recuse himself from any such investigation, which I believe is prudent,” she added. “However, we should wait for these initial investigations to run their course before jumping to conclusions — creating a larger political division in America.”

Still, the Sessions controversy is already having an impact in upcoming congressional election campaigns.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or DCCC, which has already targeted Republican U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder of Johnson County in the 2018 races, issued a statement Thursday calling on Yoder to demand Sessions’ resignation.

“Attorney General Sessions lied under oath to Congress and the American people about his contact with the Russian Government during the campaign,” DCCC spokesman Meredith Kelly said. “That’s perjury, that’s wrong, and Representative Yoder should demand his resignation.”

Yoder so far has not made any statement about the Sessions controversy.

Meanwhile in Wichita, there is an upcoming special election April 11 in the 4th Congressional District of south-central Kansas that could be an early referendum on the Trump administration. The election is to fill the seat vacated by now-CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who won re-election to that seat in November with 61 percent of the vote.

Democratic candidate Jim Thompson, a civil rights attorney, was cautious in his comments about Sessions, but said he thinks it’s already time to appoint an independent counsel to investigate.

“We’re focused on Kansas, but any reasonable person feels troubled when America’s top law enforcement officer is accused of dishonesty,” Thompson said. “The best course of action is to have an independent counsel thoroughly investigate any allegations to ensure transparency and accountability. At this time Attorney General Sessions recusing himself from this investigation was the appropriate course of action.”

Campaign officials for State Treasurer Ron Estes, the Republican nominee in that race, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.