KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — After touting himself as a political outsider during last fall's campaign, Rep. Steve Watkins has surrounded himself with veteran political insiders and people with deep roots in Kansas' Republican Party in the early stages of his term in Congress.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Newly elected Democratic Kansas Congresswoman Sharice Davids says her top priority is reopening the government.

In a speech Friday at a Kansas City, Kansas, Chamber of Commerce forum, Davids called the partial government shutdown "completely unacceptable."

There are nearly 19,000 federal employees in the Kansas City area, where her district is located.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Kansas Rep. Kevin Yoder has joined a Washington lobbying firm in which one of former Vice President Dan Quayle's sons is a partner.

HHQ Ventures announced Wednesday that the former Republican congressman from Kansas is now a partner in the firm.

Another partner is Ben Quayle. He is the younger of the former vice president's two sons and a former GOP congressman from Arizona.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Democratic Rep.-elect Sharice Davids plans to put a congressional office in the same suburban Kansas City space used by her departing Republican predecessor.

Davids says she hopes to avoid confusion among residents in the Kansas City-area 3rd District by having the same Overland Park address and telephone number as four-term GOP Rep. Kevin Yoder did.

She said the office in Johnson County will open Jan. 7, four days after she is sworn in.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Outgoing Republican Kansas Congressman Kevin Yoder says President Donald Trump's message and style fall flat with suburban voters, particularly woman.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Democratic Rep.-elect Sharice Davids has given top positions on her congressional staff to key campaign aides.

Davids announced Monday that Allison Teixeira Sulier will be her chief of staff once Davids is sworn into office Jan. 3.

Davids also said that Danielle Hull Robinson will be district director, managing operations and constituent services in Davids' home 3rd District in the Kansas City area.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democrats running for two Kansas congressional seats that their party hopes to flip raised far more campaign cash than their Republican opponents did from mid-July through September, according to campaign finance reports available online Tuesday.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Former President Barack Obama has endorsed Democrat Sharice Davids in her race against Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder in an eastern Kansas congressional district.

Obama included Davids on a tweeted list Monday of more than 250 candidates he endorsed across the nation. Davids was the only Kansas candidate listed.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — An iconic gay bar in New York City is hosting a fund-raising event for a Democratic Kansas congressional district candidate.

The Stonewall Inn will host the event Tuesday for Sharice Davids, a gay Native American, who is running against Republican incumbent Rep. Kevin Yoder in Kansas 3rd congressional district.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas Democratic official has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging that the state Republican party illegally coordinated with a super PAC in the state's 3rd congressional district.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — The head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is touring the National Agro-Defense Facility that is under construction in Manhattan.

Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen is visiting the facility Monday with a host of federal and state leaders. They include U.S. Sens. Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran, U.S. Reps. Roger Marshall and Kevin Yoder, Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer and Kansas State President Richard Myers.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Republican super PAC is attacking Democratic 3rd District congressional candidate Sharice Davids for comments she made on a podcast last month in support of abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Republican super PAC is deploying workers and attention to two Kansas congressional districts.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the Congressional Leadership Fund recently set up offices in Kansas' 2nd District and 3rd District.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Democratic congressional candidate Sharice Davids is getting some help for her campaign from a national Democratic committee.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Friday named Davids to its "red-to-blue" list of top-tier candidates, which makes her eligible for organizational and fundraising help, staff resources and candidate training.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Rep. Kevin Yoder wins Republican primary in swing district Democrats hope to flip in November.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The U.S. House of Representatives has boosted efforts to upgrade a historic archaeological site in Kansas City.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday gave his "full and total endorsement" to Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder in a Kansas district that Democrats see as competitive after Hillary Clinton narrowly carried it in the last presidential election.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Senate's top Republican has stripped a fellow GOP senator of a committee leadership post for publicly expressing support for two Democratic candidates.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Campaign finance records show that three Democratic candidates in the 3rd Congressional District each raised more than $170,000 in contributions during the last quarter.

But Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder continued to maintain a huge fundraising advantage over any potential Democratic challenger.

Six Democrats are vying for their party's nomination in the Kansas City-area district.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A radio station that was planning a "Sausage Party" across the street from the Kansas City hotel where Vice President Mike Pence was speaking to protest his position on LGBTQ issues wasn't able to provide the hot dogs it promised.

BONNER SPRINGS, Kan. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is endorsing one of his 2016 presidential campaign volunteers in the race for a suburban Kansas City congressional seat.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran says he opposes the forced separation of families during a crackdown on illegal entries into the U.S. and is working to stop it.

Moran said in a statement Tuesday that the separation of children from parents attempting to enter the U.S. illegally demonstrates that the immigration system is broken.

Moran said he is working with fellow senators and President Donald Trump's administration to "bring the current circumstances to an end."

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas congressional candidate has apologized for a campaign email about the deaths of two sheriff's deputies that led to a fundraising page.

Brent Welder is seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder. The Kansas City Star reports that an email Saturday cited the deaths of two deputies in Kansas City, Kansas, as part of the gun control debate.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to halt the separation of families during a crackdown on illegal entries, going further than any other member of Kansas' all Republican congressional delegation in expressing concerns.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Dozens of elected officials in Rep. Kevin Yoder's congressional district in Kansas are pushing him to demand an end to the forced separation of families caught crossing the U.S. border illegally.

Democratic state Rep. Jarrod Ousley of Merriam and Republican state Rep. Linda Gallagher of Lenexa delivered a letter Wednesday to Yoder's office in Overland Park.

LEAWOOD, Kan. (AP) — A retired Kansas City-area banker is running as a Democrat for Congress for the Kansas 3rd District seat held by Republican Kevin Yoder.

SHAWNEE, Kan. (AP) — A suburban Kansas City attorney who served as a White House fellow during President Barack Obama's administration is seeking the Democratic nomination for a Kansas congressional seat currently held by Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder.

PRAIRIE VILLAGE, Kan. (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Larry Winn Jr., who represented a suburban Kansas City congressional district from 1967 to 1985, has died.

Winn's son, Larry Winn III, told The Kansas City Star his father died on New Year's Eve. He was 98. Winn died at a senior living facility in Prairie Village after being hospitalized the previous week.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Two Kansas congressional Republicans who are strong advocates of gun rights said Thursday that they'd support a federal ban on devices that can modify semi-automatic weapons to shoot like automatic weapons.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Most members of Kansas' congressional delegation say they support a proposed federal tax code revision being developed by House and Senate Republicans and supported by President Donald Trump.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on Kansas Rep. Kevin Yoder's town hall meeting. (all times local):

7:40 p.m.

Kansas Rep. Kevin Yoder says he wants to fix broken private health insurance markets rather than moving the U.S. toward expanded government health coverage.