Congressional candidate goes door-to-door in the Dotte

Sylvia Williams, right, one of six Democratic candidates for U.S. House of Representatives, 3rd District, handed out campaign literature Saturday to Robert Cobin at the Heather Heights neighborhood group meeting at the Neighborhood Resource Center, 4953 State Ave. (Staff photo)

by Mary Rupert

Sylvia Williams, a candidate for U.S. House, 3rd District, campaigned in the Midtown area of Kansas City, Kansas, on Saturday, knocking on doors and also attending a meeting of the Heather Heights neighborhood group.

She explained her stance to the neighborhood group on issues including equal pay for women, access to health care, a higher minimum wage, education and guns.

Women still only get paid 77 cents on the dollar compared to men, and the nation could use women who would go to Washington and try to work for equal pay, she said.

Williams said a lot of the people in Congress are lawyers, but what Washington really needed was not people who argue, but people who can sit down and solve problems.

The neighborhood group met at the Neighborhood Resource Center at 4953 State Ave., Kansas City, Kansas.

One resident at the meeting recalled some unequal treatment of women at work and said she was glad to have someone work for equal pay for women.

Another resident mentioned the importance of education and students getting quality educations.

Williams said she would do anything she could at the federal level to support schools, and she would like to make sure something like the Brownback experiment with cuts to schools doesn’t happen again.

A Democratic Congressional candidate, Sylvia Williams, spoke to a neighborhood group Saturday in Kansas City, Kansas. (Staff photo)

A resident at the neighborhood meeting also brought up the topic of guns, and talked about the time he saw people in cars shooting at each other on the street.

“You can’t go anywhere without the fear of guns next to you,” the resident said.

Williams said she favored universal background checks, closing loopholes on gun shows, and is against military-style automatic assault weapons. She said she isn’t anti-Second Amendment, and her dad was a hunter, but he would have thought today’s society is senseless for allowing military-style assault weapons.

Williams recently has been knocking on doors north of Parallel Parkway, and 62nd Place north of State Avenue, in the Midtown area. She also plans to visit an area north of the Kansas Speedway.

She said she’s knocked on more than 2,000 doors herself.

Williams said officials need to make sure they do a good job representing everybody.

“People really appreciate it,” she said of the voters’ reactions to her neighborhood visits. One 87-year-old Kansas City, Kansas, man told her she was the first candidate to ever come to his door.

Williams said that while people often refer to her as a moderate, she wanted them to know that she was in favor of universal access to health care.

“We need to figure out how to modernize the minimum wage system,” she said. It’s not as simple as saying raise it $2 an hour, she said. “We need to raise the overall rate, and make sure we tie it to inflation, with annual adjustments,” Williams said.

She said her polls have shown that Social Security and Medicare are some of the top issues here. With Republicans discussing making cuts to Social Security and Medicare, it is a very important concern for residents.

The 3rd District needs to send someone who will really fight to keep Social Security and Medicare intact, she said.

Williams, a resident of Leawood, has worked 29 years in the financial field. In the community banking area, she was one of the first women to be a department manager and has served in senior management positions. She has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a Master of Business Administration in finance. She is originally from the Parsons, Kansas, area. She also has done volunteer work at her daughter’s public school, has been a youth group leader, and volunteers at her church.

Williams said she has a strong leadership team. Kelly Kultala, a former state senator from Kansas City, Kansas, who ran for the 3rd District, U.S. House, in 2014, is Williams’ campaign manager. Joan Wagnon, former state Democratic Party chair, is a senior adviser to her campaign. Tyler McCall, who ran for a legislative office previously in Missouri, is the campaign coordinator.

In all, six Democrats are running in the Aug. 7 primary for the 3rd District seat. Williams said she and Brent Welder, also running for the 3rd District, have sent out mailers and done television ads. The other four Democratic candidates for the office are Sharice Davids, Mike McCamon, Tom Niermann and Jay Sidie. Incumbent Rep. Kevin Yoder, a Republican, is running for re-election, with two Republican opponents.

“I feel pretty good about the race,” Williams said. She added she has tried to stay above any infighting among the candidates.