Since the 1980s (and peaking with the 1991
Summer of Mercy protests), the district's major city,
Wichita (where most 4th district voters reside), is often referred to in national media as the center, or "ground zero", of the nation's
anti-abortion movement—a primary factor that Glickman has credited for his defeat,—and which has remained a major influence in 4th district politics, with all three of Glickman's successors (
Todd Tiahrt,
Mike Pompeo and
Ron Estes) claiming strong
anti-abortion views. In the 2017 Special Election to fill Pompeo's vacated seat, a critical factor in Estes' unusually narrow victory over the Democrat (James Thompson) was a string of last-minute ads tying Thompson to his pro-abortion stance.
2016 elections In the 2016 general election, incumbent Republican
Mike Pompeo was overwhelmingly re-elected to the seat, with a 31% (85,000-vote) lead over his Democratic rival. (as happened with Pompeo's previous Democratic challengers He was challenged in the primaries by a candidate with a similar name, Ron M. Estes. This led to a conundrum as to how the candidates should be distinguished on the ballot, with Kansas Secretary of State
Kris Kobach claiming that Ron G. Estes can include the prefix "Rep." on the ballot according to Kansas law, although Ron M. Estes claimed that this was unfair. In the Democratic primary for Congress, Laura Lombard lost to
James Thompson, who was defeated by Ron G. Estes in the 2017 special election.
2000 demographics Most of the approximately 670,000 citizens of the fourth district reside in the state's largest city,
Wichita (approximate population 390,000), or the surrounding
Sedgwick County (approximate population 511,000). Nearly all live within the
Wichita MSA (approximate population 650,000). The rest live in small towns and rural areas in adjacent counties, and counties farther west and east. Following redistricting after the
2000 U.S. census, there were 672,101 people, 261,106 households, and 177,358 families residing in the district. The
population density was 70.5/mi2 over a land area of . There were 285,830 housing units at an average density of 30.0/mi2. The
racial makeup of the district is 83.56%
White, 6.86%
Black or
African American, 2.44%
Asian, 1.23%
Native American, 0.05%
Pacific Islander, 3.28% from other races, and 2.59% from
two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino people of any race were 6.57% of the population. There were 261,106
households, out of which 36.53% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.87% were
married couples living together, 10.14% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.07% were non-families. 27.62% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.99% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.10. In the district the population distribution by age is 27.69% under the age of 18, 9.13% from 18 to 24, 28.98% from 25 to 44, 21.19% from 45 to 64, and 13.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35.0 years. For every 100 females there were 97.32 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.67 males. The
median income for a household in the district is $40,917, and the median income for a family was $49,650. Males had a median income of $36,701 versus $25,237 for females. The
per capita income for the district was $20,041. About 7.0% of families and 9.6% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 12.1% of those under age 18 and 7.6% of those age 65 or over. Among the population aged 16 years and older, 66.4% was in the civilian
labor force and 0.6% were in the
armed forces. Of the employed civilian workers, 12.5% were government workers and 6.7% were
self-employed. Management, professional, and related occupations employed 31.5% of the work force and sales and office occupations an additional 25.5%. Only 0.5% are employed in farming, fishing, and forestry occupations. The largest employment by industry was: manufacturing, 24.1%; educational, health and social services, 20.8%; and retail trade, 11.0%. Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and mining industries only employed 2.0%. == Composition ==