The race for the Third District Congressional seat in Kansas remains close, according to a new poll released Wednesday.
The poll was done by Global Strategies, a New York firm that leans heavily Democratic.
Still, it showed incumbent Republican Kevin Yoder with a scant four percentage point lead (41 percent to 37 percent with a margin of error of 4.9 percent) over newcomer Jay Sidie.
That's the same edge Yoder had over Sidie a week ago in a poll done by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).
The Global Strategies poll suggests some challenges for Yoder as election day approaches. It has Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump in the district by nine points and Gov. Sam Brownback with a paltry 14 percent approval rating.
The DCCC has come in with a million dollar ad buy for Sidie and it appears it will start to link Yoder to Trump.Yoder endorsed the Republican nominee before the Republican National Convention.
Sidie's campaign has yoked Yoder to Brownback's education and tax policies so the governor's low approval could continue to hurt the two term incumbent.
However, Yoder and Brownback never served together at the Statehouse in Topeka.
The Yoder campaign didn't directly respond to the new poll.
"Washington Democrats are dumping millions in outside money into this race to try and steal this seat," campaign spokesman CJ Grover said in a statement. "We're going to continue to fight back against their lies and we are going to win."
Indeed, the Yoder campaign put up a new ad today saying Yoder has "won awards from the national Head Start Association" and calls Sidie "a liar."
The Sidie campaign is sticking with the Brownback strategy that has kept the race close.
"It's not lost on Kansans that Congressman Kevin Yoder teamed up with Sam Brownback and left our state with a worse public education system, a crumbling infrastructure, and jobs fleeing to other states," campaign spokesman Shawn Borich said in a statement.
This is unfamiliar territory for Yoder. He was first elected in 2010 and then reelected with 69 percent of the vote. He was reelected two years ago with 60 percent.
Late Wednesday the Kansas City Star reported that the Congressional Leadership fund, a super PAC, will spend $800,000 supporting Yoder with TV and digital ads.
Former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole will be in Overland Park Friday to endorse Yoder.
Sam Zeff covers education for KCUR. He's also co-host of KCUR's political podcast Statehouse Blend. Follow him on Twitter @SamZeff.
