Ron Estes

Ronald Gene Estes (born July 19, 1956) is an American politician who has been the U.S. representative for KS's 4th congressional district since April 2017.

Estes was elected treasurer of Sedgwick County in 2004 and reelected in 2008.

Estes was elected treasurer of Sedgwick County, Kansas, home to Wichita, in 2004, and reelected in 2008.

During his political career, he also served as treasurer for the Kansas County Treasurer's Association, and in several posts in the Republican Party, including vice chair of the Kansas Republican Party.

He was elected Kansas State Treasurer in 2010 and reelected in 2014.

Estes ran for Kansas State Treasurer in 2010 against incumbent Democrat Dennis McKinney.

Estes was the first statewide elected official from Wichita in two decades.

A member of the Republican Party, he served as Kansas State Treasurer from 2011 to 2017.

A fifth-generation Kansan, Estes studied engineering and business at Tennessee Tech.

He began his career as a consultant and executive in various manufacturing and service industries.

He was reelected in 2014, defeating Carmen Alldritt.

As state treasurer, Estes managed more than $24 billion in public money and he came in under budget by over $600,000.

He made it a priority to tell Kansans about unclaimed money, such as funds from forgotten bank accounts.

In 2016, Estes said his office had returned $100 million in unclaimed property since 2010.

In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Estes endorsed Marco Rubio for the Republican nomination in February, before Kansas's presidential caucuses.

Estes served in the Electoral College and cast his electoral vote for Donald Trump.

After U.S. Representative Mike Pompeo resigned to become Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Estes won the special election for the seat and was sworn in on April 25, 2017.

He is the dean of Kansas's House delegation.

Estes was born in Topeka, Kansas, and is a fifth-generation Kansan.

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering and a Master of Business Administration from Tennessee Tech, where he was selected for membership in Omicron Delta Kappa - The National Leadership Honor Society.

Estes worked in consulting and management roles in the aerospace, oil and gas, automotive, and several other manufacturing and service industries, working for several companies, including Andersen Consulting, Procter & Gamble, Koch Industries, and Bombardier Learjet.

Mike Pompeo, who represented Kansas's 4th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives, resigned on January 23, 2017, to become Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

On February 9, Estes won the Republican nomination to run in the special election to determine Pompeo's successor.

Estes won with 66 of 126 votes in a special nominating convention held at Friends University.

The Democratic nominee in the special election was James Thompson, a Wichita lawyer and veteran.

Estes was endorsed by many Republicans, including President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Senator Ted Cruz, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and Governor Sam Brownback.

He was also endorsed by the editorial board of The Wichita Eagle.

The National Republican Congressional Committee contributed $92,000, in part for "inflammatory and false" advertisements supporting Estes, which characterized Thompson as an advocate of taxpayer-funded, late-term abortions, and as an advocate for gender-selection abortion.

According to April 10, 2017, fundraising reports, Estes had raised $459,000 to Thompson's $292,000.

Estes won the special election on April 11, 2017, 52.2% to 46%.

Estes was sworn into office on April 25, 2017.

In December 2017, Estes voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

In an op-ed for the Wichita Eagle, he said he was "confident it will make a real difference for families and businesses in Kansas", that it would provide economic and job growth, and that workers would see larger paychecks.

Estes says the tax-filing process had been simplified, even though the process remains the same.

In July 2017, Estes received national attention for interrupting Representative Kathleen Rice mid-sentence while she asked a question at a Homeland Security subcommittee hearing.

In the 2018 election, Estes was challenged in the primary 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 deciding that Ron G. Estes could include the prefix "Rep."

on the ballot according to Kansas law, although Ron M. Estes complained that this was unfair.

The incumbent won with 81.4% of the vote.

In the general election, Estes defeated James Thompson in a rematch with 59.4% of the vote.