Incumbent Estes is declared the winner over Freeman in Kansas’ District 4 congressional race

Republican incumbent Ron Estes defeated Democratic challenger Esau Freeman in the race for the U.S. House of Representatives in Kansas’ District 4. The Associated Press called at 10:13 p.m. Tuesday.

Unofficial results from the Kansas Secretary of State show Estes with 65.2% of the vote (190,767), while Freeman had 34.8% of the vote (101,735 votes). This was with 98% of votes counted.

“I look forward to serving for two more years as a representative for south-central Kansas. I mean, it kind of reflects what we’ve been hearing over the last two years, really the last four years, when you look at the policies that were coming out of the Democratic administration,” Estes told The Eagle at the Sedgwick County Republican’s watch party on Tuesday night. “We are looking forward to two more years to be able to focus on some of the issues that we’ve got to work on.”

Estes has held the seat for the last seven years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in business administration from Tennessee Technological University. He previously served as Kansas state treasurer and Sedgwick County treasurer, as well as other roles.

Estes said he has two main goals when he begins his next term: focusing on tax cuts and economic growth in the short term, as well as focusing on fixing the national debt in the long term.

“We are spending too much money compared to what we’re bringing in,” Estes said. “We’ve got to get serious and … have some of those tough political conversations about, what do we do in the future? Because otherwise our kids and grandkids are going to have their hands tied.”

Republicans have held the District 4 seat since the turn of the 20th century, with a few exceptions. A single term in Congress is two years, and members make $174,000 a year.

On abortion, Estes said that he believes life begins at conception and would push for “an end to late-term abortions and no taxpayer-funded abortions.”

Freeman has a bachelor of arts degree from Wichita State University and has been a Democratic Party committee person since 2012. He’s also previously served as the vice chair of the Sedgwick County Democrat Party and treasurer, as well as other various roles.

Freeman said the most pressing issue for the district is a lack of investment in rural communities.

“The 4th congressional District is home to the largest city in Kansas, but the 16 counties surrounding Sedgwick have been vastly overlooked, and I wish to change that,” Freeman said.

Freeman told The Eagle that “every woman in America deserves the freedom to make their own health-care decisions,” and would push for laws that would protect the right to an abortion.

In other congressional races at of midnight:

▪ Unofficial results show Incumbent Republican Tracey Mann winning against Democrat Paul Buskirk in the race for District 1 ▪ Republican Derek Schmidt was winning against Democrat Rep. Nancy Boyda in the race for District 2

▪ Democrat Incumbent Sharice Davids was winning against Republican Prasanth Reddy for District 3.

This story was originally published November 5, 2024 at 7:24 PM.