Republicans have held off a surprisingly strong Democratic challenge for a Kansas House seat in the first congressional election since President Donald Trump’s November victory.

Voters on Tuesday picked state Treasurer Ron Estes to fill the vacancy created when Trump chose former U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo as CIA director.

Estes held off Democrat James Thompson, a civil rights attorney, to claim the 4th congressional district seat occupied by Republicans for more than two decades.

Trump won 60 percent of votes in November’s election in the 17-county district in south-central Kansas that includes the state’s largest city of Wichita.

The special election was closely watched for any anti-Trump backlash against Republicans.

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