GOP alarmed as Ohio, Kansas races remain too close to call

Ohio’s high-stakes special election for Congress and the Kansas Republican primary for governor both remained too close to call Wednesday, with razorthin margins separating the candidates in each race.

Republican Party leaders were alarmed by the tight Ohio race in a once-reliably red district, taking it as a vivid expression of the backlash against President Donald Trump in suburban areas. They are now steeling for a 90-day campaign of trench warfare across the country as they fight to keep control of the House, pinning their hopes on a handful of well-funded outside groups to salvage the smallest of congressional majorities.

In Kansas, Republicans faced uncertainty Wednesday not only about their candidate for governor this fall, but also whether they were creating a political opportunityfor Democrats to win the office in November. Should the party ultimately nominate Kris Kobach, its hardright candidate for governor, it could also undermine Republicans in congressional racesdown ballot.

With all precincts reporting in Kansas shortly before 9 a.m. Wednesday, Mr. Kobach, the secretary of state, was ahead of Gov. Jeff Colyer by just 191 votes out of more than 311,000 Republican ballots cast statewide. The results were likely to remain in flux for several days with an unknown number of mail-in ballots not yet counted, a full canvass of all votes still to come and the possibility of a recount looming.

As the state’s top election official, Mr. Kobach would be in charge of overseeing the canvass if he does not recuse himself.

Mr. Trump had endorsed Mr. Kobach the day before the primary, hoping to help his close ally over the finish line and extend his own victory streak of presidential endorsements in competitive Republican primaries. Some Republican leaders were frustrated with Mr. Trump’s endorsement of Mr. Kobach, a hard-line conservative, because they saw Mr. Colyer as a stronger candidate in the November general election.

The winner of the Kansas Republican primary will face state Sen. Laura Kelly, the Democratic nominee, and Greg Orman, a businessman runningas an independent.

And in another race where Republicans could be vulnerable in November, Sharice Davids, a lawyer who is Native American, won the Democratic congressional primary Tuesday in a swing district that surrounds Kansas City. She will face Rep. Kevin Yoder in the general election. It is one of two Republican-held districts in the state, along with a more rural open seat next door, where Democrats are threatening to shave the Housemajority.

In Democratic primaries across the Midwest on Tuesday, the party’s ascendant left proved unable to match some of its recent success. In the Michigan governor’s raceand in Ms. Davids’ race, candidates running with the support of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive upstart from New York, both fell short. And in Missouri, a Democrat who challenged veteran Rep. William Lacy Clay from the left, and enjoyed the support of Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, was soundlydefeated.

In Ohio, the Republican candidate for Congress, Troy Balderson, was ahead by 1,754 votes out of more than 202,000 ballots cast — a lead of nearly 1 percentage point. But 3,435 provisional ballots have yet to be counted. Ohio law provides for an automatic recount if the two candidates are ultimately separated by less thanhalf a percentage point.

The Democratic candidate in Ohio, Danny O’Connor, has not conceded the race — he called it “a tied ballgame” on Tuesday night — and is set to face Mr. Balderson again in the November general election.

Mr. O’Connor, who restrained himself from taking aimat Mr. Trump during the campaign, criticized the president Wednesday for claiming credit for Mr. Bald er son’ s apparent success.

“I don’t think he knows what he’s talking about,” Mr. O’Connor said on CNN. “Troy Balderson can have all the people he wants fly in from D.C. I don’t think it makes too much of a difference.”

Democrats, for their part, appear increasingly emboldened even in districts tilting well to the right of center. In Ohio alone, there are three or four other Republican-held seats that could be up for grabs in November, if the political dynamics of the moment hold forthe next few months.

Ken Harbaugh, a former Navy pilot seeking a solidly Republican seat in northeast Ohio, said voters in his area sensed the disengagement of the sitting lawmaker there, Bob Gibbs, a Republican in his fourth term. Mr. Harbaugh is running on some of the same themes — championing affordable health care and attacking entrenched politicians in Washington — that the Democratic candidate in Ohio’s 12th District, Mr. O’Connor, put at the centerof his campaign.

Mr. Harbaugh pointed to the special election as a sign that voters in Ohio are hungry for change. “They are just sick and tired of a political class that isn’t working for them,” he said.