Ron Estes and Ron Estes disagree on just about everything in race for Congress

One thing is certain. Ron Estes is going to win the Republican primary in the 4th Congressional District in Kansas.

That’s because both candidates on the Aug. 7 ballot are named Ron Estes.

On one side you have incumbent Rep. Ron G. Estes, who was the state treasurer before winning a special election to go to Washington last year.

Opposing him is Ron M. Estes, an aerospace engineer who helped piece together the International Space Station.

Rep. Estes is confident that he’ll win if he can just avoid confusion over the matching names.

He’s added a second sign with the word “Rep.” to his standard campaign signs — “kind of like a Post-It,” as he puts it — to let his voters know which Ron Estes they should mark on their ballot.

But Ron M. wants you to know that he considers this to be more than a novelty campaign.

He said he decided to run because he wanted people to have a choice.

“I do believe I have some qualifications to work in that environment,” he said.

Ron M. works for Boeing as configuration manager of a project to convert the company’s 767 jetliner into air-refueling tankers. Before that, he worked on ways to couple modules from different countries into the International Space Station, which he jokingly likened to building Tinker Toys in space.

He commuted to Oklahoma City for a while after Boeing shut down its Wichita operations in 2014, but now telecommutes from his home at the eastern edge of Wichita.

Not only is it Estes versus Estes, but engineer versus engineer.

Rep. Estes was a civil engineer before getting into politics and worked in computer systems. He became Sedgwick County treasurer in 2004 and state treasurer in 2010.

Behind both Rons stand active political wives.

Rep. Estes is married to Susan Estes, a former field director for the conservative group Americans for Prosperity, She also has served as the Republican Party chairwoman for the 4th District.

Ron M.’s wife Ellen is a former president of the Wichita League of Women voters and ran the moderate Republican congressional campaign of then-state-Sen. Jean Schodorf in 2010.

Though they are both Republicans, the two Rons disagree on just about every issue out there.

Rep. Estes is a self-described conservative and strong supporter of President Trump, especially tax cuts the president shepherded through Congress late last year. He says the tax cuts have put more spending money in workers’ pockets and freed corporate profits for higher wages and bonuses.

“We can have a litany of companies from Cox (Communications) to Spirit (AeroSystems), to Wichita Railways and most recently Legacy Bank, all giving bonuses to their employees and we’re seeing it in the economy,” he said.

Ron M., who describes himself as a fiscal moderate and social progressive, scoffs at the notion that the tax cuts help the working class and predicts “a lot of pain yet to come” from it.

“The wealthy have gotten more wealthy and will be getting more wealthy, obviously at the cost of other people,” he said. He also said the tax cuts are ballooning the national debt, “as often happens when revenues go down.”

Ron M. also said the president’s policy of increasing tariff taxes on foreign goods to try to protect American jobs is backfiring as other countries hit back with higher tariffs on American products..

“(Kansas) manufacturers will be suffering, farmers will be suffering,” he said.

Rep. Estes said he supports free trade, but it has to be fair trade.

He said other countries, especially China, have cheated on past trade agreements and tariffs are the means to force them to show good faith in trade. “President Trump recognizes that and his folks are working to try to correct that,” he said.

Last week, Trump proposed a $12 billion bailout for farm interests that lose money in the tariff fight.

“The support that the president announced . . . is going to be important, not because that’s what farmers want, but because it sends a message to China: ‘Hey, we’re in it for the long haul,’” Rep. Estes said.

Other areas where the two Rons disagree:

▪ Abortion: Rep. Estes is a strong opponent of abortion; Ron M. said he supports a woman’s right to choose.

▪ Health care: Ron M. wants to preserve the Affordable Care Act and make Medicaid coverage available to everyone who doesn’t get health insurance through their employer. Rep. Estes wants to repeal the ACA and replace it with open markets and tax-advantaged health savings accounts.

▪ Guns: Rep. Estes describes himself as a proud member of the National Rifle Association and vows to protect gun rights. Ron M. said he supports private ownership of guns but that the NRA is “out of control.”

▪ Marijuana: Ron M. supports legalization of marijuana for medical use and decriminalizing recreational use. Rep. Estes said legalization has led to “societal breakdown” in Colorado and strongly opposes recreational use.

The winner of the GOP primary will face the winner of the Democratic primary in a general election Nov. 6.

The Democratic candidates are civil rights lawyer James Thompson and trade and educational consultant Laura Lombard.

This story was originally published July 30, 2018 at 2:56 PM.