What does it take for a GOP-leaning group such as the Kansas Farm Bureau to endorse a Democratic candidate for Congress? Well, it takes a bipartisan badass like Rep. Sharice Davids to make it happen!
The Kansas Farm Bureau’s political action committee for the first time has endorsed Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids for reelection in the 3rd District of northeast Kansas.
The organization’s PAC previously committed to Republican incumbent U.S. Reps. Tracey Mann of the 1st District and Ron Estes of the 4th District. In July, the PAC announced support of Derek Schmidt, who in August won the GOP primary in the 2nd District. Schmidt is seeking to replace U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner, a Republican who didn’t seek reelection. Davids, who is completing her third term in Congress, is running against Republican Prasanth Reddy and Libertarian Steve Roberts in the November election.
She joined the House Agriculture Committee in 2022 after the Kansas Legislature expanded the 3rd District’s boundary beyond Johnson and Wyandotte counties to include all of Anderson, Franklin and Miami counties. Those three counties have a larger agricultural economic footprint. On Thursday, Farm Bureau president Joe Newland said Davids had dedicated herself to building relationships with agriculture interests in the congressional district. This is the first time the Farm Bureau PAC has endorsed her.
“Rep. Davids has sought the input of farmers and ranchers as part of her decision-making process. I’m confident she’s the right choice for agriculture and look forward to her reelection,” Newland said. The Farm Bureau’s PAC is known as VOTE FBF or Voters Organized to Elect Farm Bureau Friends. Since the inception of the PAC in 1993, endorsed candidates have prevailed in 90% of their elections.
Who would be bold enough to challenge Rep. Sharice Davids? Well, Dr. Prasanth Reddy is doing so. He was the pick of the NRCC and narrowly won his primary in August.
The question for Davids is whether she can continue to portray herself as a moderate badass while supporting the MVP Harris agenda.
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Rep. Sharice Davids is a potentially vulnerable Democratic incumbent. She resides in a district that Joe Biden won by four points in 2020. That’s why I’ve included her in a group of 26 incumbents or open-seat races we are defending. #SaveTheMajority Fund.
Sharice Davids for Kansas-3
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What’s the Big Idea?
THIS RACE IS LIKELY DEMOCRATIC, with an R+1 PVI
Results by county for KS-03 in 2022.
This district is the main setting for the classic political book What’s the Matter With Kansas?, which featured the stark divide between moderate and conservative Republicans found in this district in particular. For the longest time, the moderate Republicans were in charge here, and they elected socially liberal and economically conservative representatives.
This started to change in the 1990s, when an archconservative was nominated to this House seat. That incumbent only lasted two years, because the moderate faction revolted and put their weight behind a moderate Democratic candidate in Rep. Dennis Moore. Moore had quite a few tough races over the years, but he would always prevail in this district, even when presidentially it favored the GOP. Moore read the tea leaves in 2010 and called it quits then.
It took Trump to shake the last of the moderate Republicans from the party and into the willing arms of the Democratic Party in this district. Rep. Yoder, the conservative that replaced Moore, could not survive the suburban revolt against Trump and lost to Sharice Davids during the 2018 blue wave election.
By eliminating Kansas City, KS from the district the Kansas GOP made the 3rd district redder.
In response, the GOP nuked her district by taking away the Democratic anchor of Kansas City, KS and plopping it into another district. They also added three ruby red rural counties for good measure. Even with this new gerrymandered map, Biden won the district 51.2% to 46.7%. Rep. Sharice Davids was thought vulnerable in 2022 against repeat candidate Amanda Adkins, but she wound up winning 54.9% to 42.8%. 301k voted to retain Davids in 2022, while 410k voted during the 2020 Presidential race.
Here’s where this 3rd district race will be won.
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Overland Park: This huge suburb in the Kansas City metro area is now the largest source of votes in the district for Democratic candidates. There are plenty of former moderate Republicans found here, so it isn’t assured that these votes belong to Davids. She must work hard to convince these constituents to side with her again.
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Lenexa and Olathe: In the aforementioned book, these exurbs were the home to the conservative GOP faction in Johnson County. 30 years later, these areas are now the pivot point of the entire district. Biden won these cities narrowly, and Davids must do the same to offset terrible portions of the district.
Here’s where we need to keep the margins down, or we lose.
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Gardner, Spring Hill, and other Exurbs: These exurbs are now the home to a conservative faction in the district, and these areas of Johnson County are pretty conservative. Davids isn’t going to win these areas, but it is important to maintain the Biden margins in these cities because there isn’t much margin for error in this district.
- Miami, Franklin, and Anderson Counties: These counties are hopelessly and lopsidedly red, so Davids cannot expect many votes out here. There aren’t a lot of votes out in these areas, but in a razor-thin race there are enough to tip the scales against her.
Rep. Sharice Davids: A Congressional Badass
This former MMA fighter is obviously as tough as nails. Kansas Republicans have gerrymandered her district badly, so Rep. Sharice Davids needs our help to stay in office!
Rep. Sharice Davids was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1980. Sharice was raised by her single mother, Crystal Herriage, who served in the U.S. Army. Eventually her mom was stationed at Fort Leavenworth and Davids graduated from the local high school. She eventually made it to Cornell Law School but she took a convoluted educational path to get there. It included receiving a bachelor’s degree in business administration from UMKC.
During law school, Davids entered into the world of mixed martial arts. She had a 5-1 record as an amateur, and a 1-1 record as a professional. After failing to get on the show The Ultimate Fighter, she made a fortuitous decision to help the USA and especially indigenous peoples on reservations.
Her legal degree and business background were put to good use when Davids became director of community and economic development on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. She worked in the US Department of Transportation on the transition team between Obama and Trump in 2016.
Rep. Sharice Davids decided to run for Congress in 2018. Despite her opponent getting an endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders, she narrowly prevailed in the Democratic primary 37%-34%. Ratings aggregators expected this district to flip, and Sharice Davids won fairly easily amidst the blue wave in 2018. She is a member of the Ho-Chunk people in Wisconsin making her the second indigenous Representative in Kansas and one of the first indigenous women to make it to Congress.
Davids made an immediate mark in the House of Representatives. Rep. Cheri Bustos, who was head of the DCCC at the time, praised Davids as “the top of the freshman class in terms of doing things the right way”. Davids is now in a lower position in House leadership as a Chief Deputy Whip which is responsible for helping to count votes for legislation. This lower-level position can be a springboard for a prime position in the House leadership later on.
One issue that Rep. Sharice Davids is strong on are LGBTQ+ issues. She is openly lesbian and has faced discrimination because of that in federal housing. Davids supports the Equality Act which would ensure LGBTQ+ Americans are given equal protection under the law. For her work on these issues, Queerty named her to their Pride50 list in 2019. She’s also on the Fast Company Queer50 list.
Indigenous rights are also under the spotlight with Davids. For instance, she seeks to make voting for indigenous peoples easier through her Native American Voting Rights Act. She’s also supported measures such as the Native American Entrepreneurial Opportunity Act in order to better support indigenous small businesses. There is a missing and murdered indigenous women crisis in America, and directing more resources toward it is another priority for Davids.
Davids sits on the House Committee on Agriculture. Her priority on that committee is to reauthorize the Farm Bill. Unfortunately due to poison pills inserted by the GOP, the Farm Bill stands little chance of passing on its own in this Congress. She also worked across the aisle to entice the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) offices to relocate to the Kansas City Metro region, bringing an estimated 700 good-paying federal jobs to the area in 2019.
Rep. Sharice Davids may have a moderate persona but she voted with Biden on the issues 100% of the time in the 117th Congress. That makes her a valuable addition - especially from a potential swing seat.
Dr. Prasanth Reddy: Do No Harm?
Dr. Prasanth Reddy is trying to pass himself as a “moderate”. Don’t be fooled, Kansas!
Dr. Prasanth Reddy was born in Chennai, India and immigrated to the United States with his family in his youth. He has a bachelor’s degree in microbiology and psychology from Kansas State University and a medical degree from the University of Kansas. He also has a master’s degree in public health through an NIH program. Finally, he has an MBA from Harvard. After 9/11, he signed up for the Air Force Reserve and is currently a Lt. Colonel.
In a district narrowly carried by Biden in 2020, one would think that Reddy would mute his allegiance for Trump. Yet he claims to be a “huge supporter” of Trump’s policies. He goes further, calling these hateful policies “right for the country”. Instead of reaching out to former moderate Republicans here, he has decided being a MAGA loyalist is the way to go.
Reddy makes a big deal on his campaign website about how he is willing to compromise on abortion. He claims to be for the usual exceptions for abortion. He also thinks it is an issue to be left to the states which contradicts his views entirely in many places in the USA. He may be trying to run to a mythical middle ground on abortion but it won’t work. 67% of Kansas’ 3rd district voters voted to protect abortion rights and reject abortion restrictions in 2022.
Despite being an immigrant himself, Reddy also wants to close the door behind him when it comes to immigration. He calls for an end to illegal immigration but does not go into specifics as to how it can be accomplished. He also laughably says he wants to secure the border, but he and his colleagues came out against the tough border security bill negotiated by the Senate.
Reddy is backed by the Koch network and others in the billionaire class. That means he supports voucher schemes and other means of undermining public education. He only says that he is for anodyne “He will fight so every child has a shot at a quality education, and that every parent has a voice.” He is strongly against student debt relief and would vote to abolish the Department of Education.
Doctors take an oath to “do no harm”. Dr. Prasanth Reddy backs policies that would cause a great deal of harm, whether it is for women, immigrants, or students.
How Can You Help?
Dr. Prasanth Reddy hasn’t matched Rep. Sharice Davids dollar for dollar but he has raised enough to be a threat. Davids has $2.8M, while Reddy has $830k. With the Q3 reporting season almost upon us, it is critical that all of our candidates have a strong war chest to campaign with. Please donate so that Davids can blow Reddy out of the water!
Outside groups are spending money here. The GOP, for all of its bravado, is not spending a dime yet on one of their “Young Guns”. The House Majority PAC, which is linked to the DCCC, is spending $800k here. This insurance policy is why I decided to write about the race despite few signs of it being competitive.
People can volunteer with the Davids campaign every Saturday. Canvassing in Overland Park happens at that time. There is also a special canvassing session with the Jewish Democratic Council of America on this Sunday. Please sign up if you live in the Kansas City metro area so this badass can continue to accomplish amazing things! There are opportunities to meet Rep. Sharice Davids at volunteer events in Franklin and Miami Counties in early October. It’s amazing that Davids will go out to even the more rural portions of the district!
To be honest, I am not too worried about this race even though there is no polling of it. Rep. Sharice Davids has proven that she runs ahead of the Presidential ticket in 2020 and she even improved upon that performance in a worse district in 2022. She has the powerful Kansas Farm Bureau on her side which makes her even more likely to win.
Dr. Prasanth Reddy is a strong enough candidate to be touted on the “Young Guns” program, which is the GOP equivalent of Red to Blue. He needs Trump to pull ahead of MVP Harris like he did Biden as that would change the race. He is fighting for the 35th most vulnerable district held by a Democratic incumbent which shows how daunting the task may be.
The question for Davids is whether she can pull off the moderate badass persona and continue to support the agenda of MVP Harris.
Sharice Davids for Kansas-3
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