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Opinion column
by Murrel Bland
During the recent race for Congress in the 3rd District, the Congressional Forum offered a debate opportunity to the Republican incumbent, Kevin Yoder, and his Democratic challenger, Sharice Davids. Yoder accepted quickly. Davids declined, citing previous commitments.
The forum was established by supporters of U.S. Rep. Larry Winn in 1968 as a nonpartisan organization to help inform constituents about what goes on in Washington, D.C. Since its founding, Republicans and one Democrat cooperated by appearing regularly at the forum.
There was concern among forum regulars that Davids didn’t show at the debate and that she might not participate in the forum. However, that concern was quickly dismissed when she received a standing ovation, when first introduced, at the meeting of the forum Friday, Jan. 18, at Children’s Mercy Park.
Sharice Lynnette Davids is an interesting study in American politics for several reasons. She is the first of two American Indian women to be elected to Congress. The other is Deb Haaland, a Laguna Pueblo from New Mexico. Davids had a career in mixed martial arts and is openly gay. She was raised by a single mother who was a U.S. Army drill sergeant.
Davids defeated Yoder by a little more than 28,000 votes; she garnered more than 78,000 votes in traditionally Republican Johnson County. Yoder received only about 63,000 votes in Johnson County.
Davids told the forum members that her main concern now is getting federal employees back to work with pay.
Davids is a member of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, a fact that brought applause from the forum audience. She served as a lawyer for the U.S. Department of Transportation. She said she wants to make infrastructure a high priority.
She said she plans to open an office soon in the Brotherhood Building. She said she is anxious to help constituents with concerns, such as those involving the IRS, the Small Business Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Davids had high praise for her alma mater, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park. She said such schools, including Kansas City Kansas Community College, play a key role in providing an educated work force.
She received a degree in business from the University of Missouri at Kansas City and a law degree from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
She said affordable health care is also one of her high priorities. She said she believes it is important that, as a Democrat, she can be a link from the majority party in the U.S. House with the rest of the Kansas delegation, which is Republican.
Murrel Bland is the former editor of the The Wyandotte West and The Piper Press. He is the executive director of Business West.