Rep. Ron Estes defeats opponent also named Ron Estes in GOP primary

Rep. Ron Estes (R) won the GOP primary for Kansas’s 4th Congressional District on Tuesday, defeating a challenger with the same name in the process.

The Washington Post reported that Estes earned 80.8 percent of the vote with 34 precincts reporting — meaning he triumphed over Ron M. Estes, a first-time candidate who dubbed himself the “real” Ron Estes on his campaign website. 

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Rep. Estes, who was elected last year in a special election to fill now-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s vacated House seat, was forced to use campaign funds to inform voters that “M” stood for “misleading” before the election, the Post reported.

The Post notes that the other Estes did not run a serious campaign. In June, a spokesman for the incumbent GOP lawmaker blasted the challenge, calling the move an “attempt to deceive Kansas voters.”

“Kansans know that Congressman Ron Estes is fighting for them in Washington,” the spokesman told The Wichita Eagle. “Rep. Ron Estes looks forward to discussing with voters how to keep this positive economic momentum going — it’s starting to have a big impact for Kansas families.”

Rep. Estes will now face James Thompson, a Democratic candidate civil rights attorney, in the November general election. The race will be a rematch of their 2017 special election race, which Estes won by 6 points.