On election night, in a small bar, sitting in Kansas City, Kansas, the mother of Sharice Davids looked on as the results filled in — slowly. Johnson County, Kansas, which would account for a large amount of the overall state vote and be the decision maker for the Kansas Congressional campaign, was taking their sweet time coming to a conclusion. It wouldn’t be until 7:30 AM the next day, when Ronnie Metsker alerted us that the totals would be uploaded inside the election office, that the results of Kansas CD3 would be known - and a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, an LGBT former MMA fighter, a Cornell law grad and Obama White House fellow would hear her name, for the first time, announced on Twitter as the winner of the Kansas congressional.
Earlier in the evening, Senator Laura Kelly (D-Topeka) had delivered a decisive win in the Kansas Democratic primary race for Governor. And, while Republicans are still feuding about who won on their side for the Governor race, on the Democratic side in Topeka and throughout Kansas Congressional District 3, tears flowed freely from those in attendance, voters who had stayed up at all hours, waiting for the results.
The race for Kansas CD3 was a peaceful one - few bitter attacks, and a lot of substance. Meaningful debates over the issues and strong candidates like Brent Welder, Tom Niermann, Sylvia Williams, Mike McCamon and Jay Sidie.
All of the candidates deserve our praise, our respect, our gratitude for their willingness to run and put themselves out there, competing to be the Democratic candidate that takes on Kevin Yoder.
With the election decided, however, I want to tell another story.
Sitting at a Prairie Village restaurant in December of 2017, Sharice Davids, myself, and two other individuals talked about the future. Andrea Ramsey had just exited the Congressional race. Sharice, who had eyed the race didn’t ask the question you’d expect — she didn’t ask “is this race the right one for me?”
Instead, Sharice asked the group at the table: “Where can I help us the most?” We talked about Kobach, about the state, and how she saw the future for Kansas. Knowing there were already numerous candidates in the race, I made a point: I am neutral, I do not recruit against good candidates, and if you enter this race, and all I can do is wish you well. But, like many other candidates, I always kept an open line and allowed them to reach out and ask me anything.
At that first meeting, I was convinced Sharice was planning to run for another post, but a few weeks later, she entered the race for the US House. With so many debates, so many forums, I kept watching our candidates, to see how things would shake out.
All of our candidates had great moments, strong lines, and a great attack on Kevin Yoder, a Republican who saw a significant defection to moderates running against him in his own primary. I kept track of moments where I thought each candidate had a moment that really hit me as especially powerful.
That moment for Sharice is easy — in a debate that included libertarians and Yoder’s moderate challenger, Sharice took on the issue of what it means to have a better police force in America. “We think of officers as to protect and serve — but we leave off two words. To protect and serve THE COMMUNITY”. It led to a discussion about how we make our communities better and safer for persons of color, and how we improve the relationships in our community. It was a moment where in the room I thought: this one has game.
“We have to fight like hell to succeed.” This morning, in a message to volunteers for Brent Welder, members of Our Revolution sent this message: “Today, we lick our wounds, but tomorrow, we fight like hell for #TeamSharice”.
This, my friends, is Unity. The clock is running on Kevin Yoder.
Are you in?
