RESULTS: First-term Rep. Sharice Davids projected to defeat Republican Amanda Adkins in Kansas' 3rd

2020-11-04T04:02:00Z

First-term Rep. Sharice Davids is projected to defeat Republican Amanda Adkins in Kansas' 3rd Congressional District.
The district is located in eastern Kansas and is home to the Kansas side of Kansas City, including the suburbs of Overland Park, Desoto, and Shawnee.
Davids, an attorney, is the first openly LGBTQ Native American in Congress and the first openly gay person to represent Kansas in Congress.
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First-term Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids is projected to retain her House seat against Amanda Adkins in Kansas' 3rd Congressional District.

The candidates

Davids is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin. Upon her election in 2018, Davids became the first openly gay person to represent Kansas as well as the first openly LGBTQ Native American in Congress. Davids, along with Rep. Deb Haaland of New Mexico, who was also elected in 2018, is also one of the first two Native American women to serve in Congress.

Prior to being elected, Davids worked as an attorney and was a member of the White House Fellowship program under President Barack Obama. In 2020, she served as the vice-chair of the 2020 Democratic National Convention. In Congress, Davids serves on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Committee on Small Business.

Adkins, Davids' Republican challenger, is a former healthcare executive at Cerner Corporation. She is the co-chair and founder of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Excellence in Public Service Series, an organization devoted to training Republican women for public office. Adkins' campaign platform was centered around healthcare reform, de-funding sanctuary cities, and lowering abortion numbers.

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The district

Kansas' 3rd Congressional District is located in eastern Kansas on part of the state's border with Missouri. The district is home to half of Kansas City and many of its suburbs, including Overland Park, Shawnee, DeSoto, Olathe, Lenexa, and Spring Hill. It also contains all of the counties of Johnson and Wyandotte as well as a portion of Miami County.

The 3rd District is one of a dozen that flipped from backing Mitt Romney in 2012 to voting for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016, according to Daily Kos.

The money race

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Davids raised around $5.2 million, spent $4.6 million, and had around $603,000 in cash on hand while Adkins has raised about $2 million, spent $1.7 million, and had nearly $260,000 in cash on hand.

What experts say

The race between Davids and Adkins was rated as "safe Democratic" by The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, and Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.