James Thompson isn't going anywhere. The Kansas Democrat beat all expectations yesterday in the reddest of Kansas districts. His opponent outspent him and had a massive influx of help from Ted Cruz and the White House.

But last night Thompson gave not so much a concession speech as a call to arms:

JAMES THOMPSON: I'm probably not supposed to say this, but Mr. Estes did not beat us. It took a President of the United States, the Vice-President, a Speaker of the House, a Senator [Ted Cruz, yeah] coming into our state -- and a bunch of lies -- trying to drum up a vote.

Audience cheering -- "2018!"

THOMPSON: Mr. Estes may have won this battle, but he has not won the war, and I am going to announce my candidacy for 2018.

The Kansas City Star reported Thompson as adding, "“We’ve sent a message that no Republican district in this country is safe. (DCCC) and DNC need to be doing a 50-state strategy."

Damn right.

Update (Karoli):

Thompson gave an interview to ThinkProgress and said this:

I think ultraconservative Republicans anywhere in the United States need to be scared right now because we have shown that a motivated base and a well-run campaign can win. We did not lose to Estes so much as we lost to a president, a vice president, a speaker of the house, and multiple senators coming in and helping out. So in 2018 when there’s 435 races going on, he’s not going to be able to do that for everybody. I think that those congressmen and senators need to be looking at their positions on things, because there’s going to be backlash and there’s going to be people who lose their seats in 2018 as a result of it.

He also said it's critical that every single district be challenged, and that Democrats quit ignoring the South. Amen, and amen.