Analysis
by Mary Rupert
The 3rd District, U.S. House contest this year is close, distinguished by funding coming from outside sources and negative advertising.
The two leading candidates, Republican incumbent Rep. Kevin Yoder, and Democratic challenger Jay Sidie, are in a fight for political control of the U.S. House. Election Day is Nov. 8.
Patrick Miller, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Kansas, on Friday said Democrats are trying to win 30 seats to gain control of the House, and most projections are that Democrats can win 10 to 20 seats.
The other 10 seats that Democrats need will include districts such as the Kansas 3rd Congressional District, he said. The district includes Wyandotte and Johnson counties and part of Miami County. Most voters are in Johnson County, and the district is considered primarily a high-income, suburban district. While Rep. Yoder is considered to have a slight edge in the district, up in the most recent poll by 4 to 5 points, and the district tilts a little Republican, there is also a sense that it could be close, according to Miller.
“If Republicans want to keep the majority, they have to win seats like this, as well,” Miller said.
However, Miller said it could be that these candidates, and other candidates around the country, are avoiding candidate forums because they are wary of making a slip while on camera or while audio is recording. For example, a remark was recorded Oct. 11 on a cell phone at a Cub Scout event in Johnson County where Rep. Yoder said he would vote for Donald Trump “no matter what crazy things he says.” News stories were then published about that video remark, and the video was posted online.
Outside dollars are flowing into the 3rd District for both candidates, but the effect is greater for Sidie, who is a first-time candidate, according to Miller. It could help him be competitive and get name recognition, he said.
“In a race like this, Sidie has not raised a lot of money for a Congressional candidate,” Miller said. “Say what you will about outside money — we tend to think money is bad and something we don’t like in politics — he has $1.1 million in advertising from the national Democratic Party (PAC). With that money, they are able to come in and support Sidie, who hasn’t raised much money,” Miller said.
Rep. Yoder had a big financial advantage, and a national super PAC has raised funding for advertising for him, Miller said. Recently announced was $700,000 more for Yoder’s advertising from the Congressional Leadership Fund.
“All things being equal, it’s a bigger help for Sidie,” Miller said. “People already know who Yoder is.”
Wyandotte County candidate appearances
In general, there hasn’t been a lot of campaigning happening in Wyandotte County to turn out the base, according to observers. The 3rd District candidates do not seem to be seeking opportunities to debate here, either. Poor Democratic turnout in Wyandotte County was cited as one of the reasons for Paul Davis’ defeat in the 2014 governor’s contest, according to Miller.
Rep. Yoder, Overland Park, and Sidie, Mission Woods, did not attend a candidate forum held Oct. 17 by Business West and other organizations at Kansas City Kansas Community College.
Libertarian candidate Steven A. Hohe of Shawnee attended the candidate forum at KCKCC and took the opportunity to tell about his campaign for the 3rd District. He said he was concerned about the way Washington, D.C., was attempting to dictate citizens’ lives.
Hohe, who has owned small businesses, said he was in favor of downsizing the government, repealing the 16th Amendment concerning income tax, and making a 10 percent cut across all departments. He would replace the income tax with a consumption tax and fair tax.
He also said he was in favor of relinquishing all social services except Social Security and Medicare to the states to fund and control, and reducing military spending. Hohe is a U.S. military veteran who is active in Scouting activities.
Hohe’s campaign website stated he is in favor of some kind of barrier such as a tall concrete wall on the U.S. border, with a 20-foot ditch on its south side.
Both leading candidates for the 3rd District seat have gone negative in television ads. They also have gone negative in person.
The Wyandotte Daily talked briefly with Rep. Yoder at a KCKCC conference center dedication on Oct. 22 and with Sidie at a candidate watch party Oct. 19 at a Democratic campaign office in Kansas City, Kan.
Sidie said the top reason he is running for office is education. When he moved to Kansas he was pleasantly surprised at how strong the educational system was, he said.
“I took it for granted,” he said. “Things started to slip to the point where I felt like I needed to engage,” he said.
His advisers told him one of the obstacles was Rep. Yoder. “He wasn’t representing the district,” Sidie said.
At an earlier event Sidie, who has an MBA, had said that he would represent the middle class, while Rep. Yoder was representing wealthy donors. Sidie formerly was a commodities trader and vice president of a large company, and said he had a small business.
Yoder’s top campaign funding source was the payday loan industry, Sidie said, “which definitely is a cancer on our community.” Yoder took their money and was pushing legislation that deregulated them, he said.
Yoder’s second big funding source was the banking lobby, Sidie said. The Dodd-Frank bill passed in 2010 was designed with a wall separating traditional banking activities from risky activities of the industry such as credit derivatives, he said. The night before the budget vote, Yoder slipped wording into the bill that was written by a banking lobbyist, Sidie said. If Congress didn’t pass the bill, it would have shut the government down, and if they did pass it, the wall would not be in the bill, he said.
“Now we have the same problem we had in 2008,” Sidie said, “all because Kevin slipped that in.”
Rep. Yoder’s staff responded that: It was not a budget debate, he is speaking about a provision that was included in an omnibus spending bill. Nothing was slipped in the night before any vote. Congressman Yoder amended bipartisan language into the appropriations bill in July 2014 that was based on legislation that had already passed the House 292-122 in October 2013. It had been fully vetted by two committees and the entire House of Representatives. The language was not written by lobbyists. It was based on HR 992, which you can find on www.congress.gov. The language has nothing to do with what happened in 2008. In fact, it simply preserved current law by amending and delaying a part of Dodd-Frank that hadn’t gone into effect yet.
Sidie also criticized Yoder’s position on gun violence legislation. A bill in Washington is trying to prohibit those on the no-fly list from buying guns because they are suspected terrorists, he said, but Yoder, who has donations from the gun lobby, was against that legislation.
Sidie said more common sense was needed in Washington, a safe environment for the family and more transparency. “When you go to Washington, you represent the district,” he said. “You don’t try to slip things in in the middle of the night and hide from them. He’s a professional politician.” Sidie said all Yoder’s decisions are based on how he votes, clearly hinged on how it affects his political career. “He doesn’t think about what is right for the district,” Sidie said.
“My No. 1 priority is what I think is best for the district, No. 2 is what is best for the state and No. 3 is what is best for the country,” Sidie said.
Rep. Yoder, reached at a KCKCC conference center dedication on Oct. 22, said he had been a leader in public education since his first day in office. Yoder has received national Head Start Association awards for his work on behalf of Head Start and early childhood education.
“As a citizen, he’s (Sidie) never voted for a school bond issue in his community,” Rep. Yoder said. “Our schools need local support, and when our citizens won’t support them locally, it’s pretty disingenuous for them to come out and say they’re big school supporters.”
About Sidie’s comments on the Dodd-Frank legislation, Rep. Yoder, who is an attorney, said someone ought to explain to him how a bill becomes law. “He continues to confuse issues,” Rep. Yoder said. The legislation in question passed with a bipartisan majority, President Obama signed it into law, and Democrats all over the country voted for it, Rep. Yoder said.
“His quarrel may be with the president or members of his own party that supported it in a bipartisan way,” Rep. Yoder said.
Rep. Yoder said Sidie had made up a business for financial advising, didn’t register and wasn’t licensed by the state. He questioned Sidie’s business past and his voting record. “He didn’t even vote for Congress two years ago,” he said. “He didn’t vote in the governor’s race.”
“This has got to be one of the first times in Kansas history where someone who doesn’t vote in elections, who didn’t even vote for Congress last time says he should be our congressman. What we’re hoping is someone can show him where his polling place is so that he’ll know where to vote this time,” Rep. Yoder said. “The big question is, will he vote in this year’s election for himself?”
Rep. Yoder, who also appeared in a speech at the Kansas City, Kan., Area Chamber of Commerce Congressional Forum, said his own top issues are job creation and creating economic opportunity, working to balance the budget and have fiscal responsibility in the government, protecting national security and defeating ISIS, keeping promises to seniors and veterans, and investing in the community through public education, infrastructure and medical research.
A very competitive race
“The big overview is it’s a very competitive race,” Miller said. “The polls have shown a close race, with Yoder a little ahead, a single digit in the most recent poll.”
Sidie pulled within the margin of error in October, according to one poll.
“It’s a race where the presidential dynamic is really playing in to make it a close race,” Miller said. “The 3rd District is not as Republican as the rest of Kansas; it’s pink where the rest of Kansas is red.”
Obama received about 48 percent of the vote in the 3rd District in 2012, he said, and Obama has endorsed Sidie for 3rd District this year. Vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine also endorsed Sidie. Rep. Yoder’s endorsements include former Sen. Bob Dole and Wyandotte County Sheriff Don Ash.
“The important thing this year is it’s a district with a high percentage of voters who have college degrees, and a high-income district,” Miller said.
Trump has made a lot of districts like that vulnerable, Miller believes. Voters with high education, high income, and in particular, women, have been voting for Clinton, he added. In this district, there are also Republicans who face some negative blowback from Gov. Sam Brownback, he believes.
For more information about the Yoder campaign, visit http://www.yoderforcongress.com/
For more information about the Sidie campaign, visit http://www.jay4congress.com/
For more information about the Hohe campaign, visit http://www.stevehoheforcongress.com/
For previous stories about the 3rd District, visit
https://wyandotteonline.com/sidie-goes-on-attack-against-yoder/
https://wyandotteonline.com/budget-considered-top-issue-before-congress/