VOTER GUIDE: Adkins vs Davids in Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District

There is a myth that Kansas is a deep red state. Not true. Kansas has one red congressional district in the big red 1^st. It is the only Congressional District in Kansas where Republicans outnumber Democrats and unaffiliated voters combined. The 2^nd and 4^th Districts have been swing districts that have recently trended Republican while the 3^rd has been trending left with each election.

When I became involved in Kansas politics in the mid 90s the 2^nd and 4^th Congressional Districts were both in the hands of Democrats and Jan Meyers, a very moderate Republican, was the Representative for the 3^rd District. Since Meyers retirement, Democrats have held the seat 7 out of 12 terms while Kevin Yoder, a conservative leaning moderate Republican held it for 4 terms and Vince Snowbarger, a conservative, managed to win it for one term against a Democrat candidate that was so flawed that even The Star endorsed Snowbarger.

Historically in the 3rd District, Democrats have been heavily favored in Wyandotte County while a small portion of Miami County was heavily Republican. The real difference used to be Johnson County, dominated by a largely moderate Republican establishment, but that is changing.

Northeast Johnson County has been trending Democratic. Indeed, Prairie Village appears to have far more in common with Portland, Seattle and Minneapolis than what one would expect for a city in the American heartland. Also, the thousands of new apartments particularly along I-435 in Lenexa and dotted across the county have turned other once safe Republican strongholds into swing districts if not safe havens for Democrats.

Adding to Republican woes the Johnson County Republican Party has suffered from intra-party conflict, weakening the party’s ability to support its candidates against an increasingly well-organized Democrat surge.

If those problems weren’t bad enough, in 2018 Democrats at the national level discovered that an infusion of cash in amounts that would be seen as trivial on either coast was sufficient to elect a carpet-bagging lesbian, still registered to vote in South Dakota, and barely able to regurgitate talking points fed to her by staff, to a Congressional seat here in the “conservative” heartland.

So substantial was the change that in 2018 only one statewide Republican candidate received more votes in Johnson County than their Democrat opponent. Vickie Schmidt, a liberal Republican, managed to garner more votes than her Democrat challenger. Even Derek Schmidt, the moderate Attorney General, came in second.

Watch the debate between Davids and Adkins:

And so, with that background and an even greater influx of cash from New York and particularly California, Democrat Sharice Davids must be considered the heavy favorite to retain her seat representing the 3^rd District in Congress.

Democrats in the district have developed a strategy honed over six terms of Dennis Moore’s reign of creating the image, if not the reality, of the “moderate” Democrat. While Davids votes 97% of the time with Nancy Pelosi, she studiously avoids issues that might trigger controversy back “home” in her district. Contact with voters is tightly controlled and, as last time, multiple debates were rejected by the inarticulate Davids until shortly before the election and then only those fitting a very restrictive formula loaded in her favor were accepted.

Davids’ opponent is Amanda Adkins, an intelligent, articulate and successful former Cerner executive with extensive leadership as both a political and community leader.

Among her many successes Amanda served as Professional Staff on the US House Rules Committee, and worked on commerce issues in the United States Senate. She has been the Political and Executive Director of GOPAC and was also the Chair of the Kansas Republican Party. She served on the Executive Committee of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce for 14 years and also served on the Boards of The Salvation Army and The Entrepreneur Coalition.

Adkins also has some laudable endorsements, including Kansans for Life.

If elections were based on merit, Adkins would win in a landslide. Where Davids has failed at virtually everything she’s tried including law and even managing a small coffee shop, Adkins has been extraordinarily successful. Adkins is articulate and independent while Davids is a creature of her handlers’ creation, barely able to regurgitate their carefully constructed talking points, and careful not to go off script.

Unfortunately, elections are not based on merit and in their most recent incarnation here in the 3^rd District, the highest intersectionality score seems to carry the day, actual qualifications notwithstanding.

Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District

 

Issue Position: Infrastructure Issue
Position: Defending America’s Security, Protecting American Jobs
Issue Position: Promoting Economic Recovery through Fiscal Responsibility
Issue Position: COVID-19 “Coronavirus”
Issue Position: Amanda’s Vision for America

Sharice Davids

Democrat, Incumbent

Prior to serving in the U.S. Congress, Davids biggest claim to fame was as a mixed martial-arts fighter with a 1-1 win/loss record in professional fights. She also worked as an attorney and many contest her eligibility to have run for the seat based on residency requirements. While written about in other media, the Kansas City Star, which endorsed her, chose not to investigate the claims. She was elected to congress in 2018 and became the first openly gay Native American elected to the U.S. Congress, She lives with her partner in Roeland Park, Kan.

According to her financial disclosure form, which she was required to complete as a candidate for federal office, Davids owes at least $100,000 of student debt.

When Davids ran for Congress in 2018, it was revealed she owed investors in her coffee business thousands of dollars.  A South Dakota judge ordered Sharice Davids’ failed coffee company to repay investors nearly $20,000.  South Dakota Circuit Court Judge Robert Mandel ordered Davids’ Hoka Coffee Company to pay New Vision Venture Partners $19,539 in January 2016, which she failed to do.

Contrary to media reports, Davids is not the first Native American Congressional member from Kansas. That milestone goes to Charles Curtis, a Republican from Topeka who spoke Kaw  before he spoke English, and who won a House seat in 1892. In 1907 he was elected to serve as a Kansas Senator, and he was later elected Vice President of the United States from 1929 to 1933.

Voting Record:

Border Emergency: Voted to terminate the border emergency declaration with Mexico. As tens of thousands of migrants poured across the border in 2018 and 19, President Trump declared an emergency which allowed him to bypass the Democrat-controlled Congress and re-prioritize funding not only for a wall but for personnel to handle the influx.

Net Neutrality: Davids voted to reinstate outdated Federal Communications Commission rules that would regulate Internet service providers as public utilities. Providers had wanted to charge customers that use substantially more bandwidth than their neighbors, a different rate. It imposed other restrictions on how providers manage their networks.

Federal control of state voting practices: Davids voted to give the Democrat Congress and Federal government the ability to mandate that states or local governments must get approval before they make changes to voting practices in various circumstances. It would apply to jurisdictions in which just three voting rights violations occurred in the last 25 years.

Impeachment: Davids voted yes to impeach President Trump over a phone call the president made to inquire about illegal business dealings by Hunter Biden and the oil firm Burisma. The Senate acquitted the President. Likewise, she also voted to impeach the president over obstruction of justice. President Trump was again acquitted by the Senate.

Iran: Davids voted with other Democrats to force the president to end any military pressure or threat of action against Iran over its involvement in the death of American service personnel, nuclear proliferation and possible terrorist activities.

Heroes Act: Davids voted against extending financial help to Americans without jobs as a result of coronavirus lockdowns and closed businesses. The bill would have also provided COVID-19 financial relief to state and local governments, among other provisions.

Washington DC statehood: Davids voted yes to admit Washington DC as a state. Democrats favor statehood because it could add two new Democrat seats for the party for both the House and Senate.

Defense spending authorization: Voted yes to authorize spending on behalf of the Pentagon.

Corporate governance: Voted yes to require companies to disclose the level racial, ethnic, sexuality and gender composition of their boards and upper management.

Minimum wage: Davids voted yes to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour over several years.

Military sales: Davids voted to prevent sales of military equipment to US allies Britain, France and the UAE.

Forced voter registration: Davids voted yes on the For the People bill that requires all states to authorize automatic voter registration, make Election Day a federal holiday, create independent redistricting commissions for the drawing of congressional districts, and require nonprofit organizations, including pro-life groups, to disclose their large donors. Also requires states to permit felons to vote in elections.

Paris Climate Accords: Voted yes to force President Trump to abide by actions taken by former President Barack Obama under the Paris Climate Accords.

Abortion: Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?

“I’m definitely not going to apologize for taking @emilyslist [pro-abortion] support, b/c they play a role in helping pro-choice women candidates get elected.” (twitter.com)

Crime: Does not support the protection of government officials, including law enforcement officers, from personal liability in civil lawsuits.

Guns: Responded “yes” to the question, “Do you generally support gun-control legislation?

Immigration: Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? Answered “Yes.”

Ratings:

Campaign for Working Families 0%

Heritage Action for America 5%

National Right to Life Committee 6%

Planned Parenthood Action Fund 100%

Plastics Industry Association 100%

Susan B. Anthony List (pro-life) 0%

American Civil Liberties Union 76%

NAACP 100%

American Conservative Union 0%

Americans for Prosperity 9%

Campaign for Working Families 0%

Conservative Review 0%

Heritage Action for America 5%

The John Birch Society 10%

National Education Association 100%

American Energy Alliance 0%

Americans for Prosperity 9%

National Rifle Association 0%

Contributions:

University of Kansas, Deutsche Telekom, New Democrat Coalition, Emily’s list (pro-abortion).

Top industry sources include: Democrat/Liberal $330,351

Lawyers: $305,099

Ideology/Single Issue (pro-choice etc): $1,291,309

Total Raised: $5,202,781.23

Total Spent: $4,537,804.68

Cash On Hand: $673,608.98