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When it comes to national politics, Kansas is about as red as Dorothys famous slippers.

Fewer than a handful of Democrats have been elected to the House in the past generation. Voters havent supported a Democrat for president since 1964.

The last time Kansas sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate was in 1932 nine years before Dorothy and hertransportive footwear showed up in movie theaters.

All of which made it all the more striking this week when national Republicans dumped nearly $100,000 a not-unsubstantial sum by Kansas standards into next weeks special election to fill a vacant House seat in the Wichita area.

The contest for the seat, which opened up when three-term Republican Mike Pompeo stepped down to head the CIA, was expected to be an easy victory under nominee Ron Estes, the state Treasurer.

The fact Republicans feel obliged to conduct a last-minute ad blitz has heartened Democrats and their candidate, attorney James Thompson, even if an upset still seems unlikely. President Trump carried the district by a whopping 60% to 33%.

But, as the Cook Political Report noted, special elections tend to be extremely low-turnout affairs and given Trumps slumping approval and signs of increased Democratic activism, the contest appears more competitive than just a few weeks ago.

On Thursday, the nonpartisan handicappers at the Cook Report moved the race from "Solid Republican" to "Likely Republican."

In a further sign of GOP nervousness, Vice President Mike Pence has recorded a robocall urging Republican voters to the polls, the Washington Examiner reported Friday.

A Democratic upset on Tuesday would be particularly sweet for the party and its supporters, coming in the hometown of Koch Industries, the conglomerate owned by the conservative bankrolling Koch brothers.

It would also provide an enormous boost walking up to a special election in Georgia on April 18, where Democrat Jon Ossoff has raised a stunning $8 million-plus for his campaign to snatch away a Republican-leaning district in the Atlanta suburbs.

The House seat was vacated when GOP Rep. Tom Price resigned to head the Department of Health and Human Services.

12:20 p.m.: This post has been updated with a report that Vice President Mike Pence has recorded a robocall aimed at GOP voters.

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Republicans getting antsy over special congressional vote--in ruby-red Kansas, of all places - Los Angeles Times