Rep. Sharice Davids wins fourth term in Congress, defeating Republican Prasanth Reddy
Rep. Sharice Davids, Kansas’ lone Democrat in Congress, was reelected to a fourth term on Tuesday, defeating Republican Prasanth Reddy to cement her hold on the suburban district.
Like each of her past elections, Davids, 44, entered the race as one of the potentially vulnerable Democrats in the House, given the fact that there are more Republicans than Democrats registered in the District. But by the end of the night, she once again took the stage in Overland Park to give a victory speech.
“We are going to keep up our fight, we are absolutely going to keep up our fight,” Davids said. “To do things like expand Medicaid, making sure that we have good public schools, making sure we’re funding public education including special ed, making sure we have a Kansas that actually works for everyone.”
The Associated Press called the race for Davids at 10:35 p.m. Davids had 53% of the vote compared to Reddy’s 43% with 719 precincts out of 720 precincts reporting at 11:30 p.m., according to the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office. Libertarian Steve Roberts had 4%.
Davids’ victory was again propelled by voters in Johnson County, a once reliably Republican County that has increasingly supported Democratic candidates as former President Donald Trump has established firm control over the Republican Party.
“In a lot of ways, District 3 is mirroring other suburban areas around the country,” said Alexandra Middlewood, a political science professor at Wichita State University.
“They’re getting increasingly more moderate, leaning towards the Democratic party. A lot of that is driven by college-educated voters who are moving into those areas, and especially college-educated women in particular.”
First elected amid suburban backlash to Trump’s presidency in 2018, Davids has spent the past eight years trying to build a moderate, bipartisan record in Congress. In an era where politicians can often get power from seeking national political attention, Davids has instead kept a low profile.
As voters expressed discontent with high inflation and an increase of illegal immigrants coming across the southern border, Davids’ campaign largely focused on her efforts to aid Kansans – both by touting votes she took to help bring down prices for medications like insulin and through official events celebrating the local projects enabled by federal funding she helped secure.
“If you are in the third district, whether you voted for me or not, I am here to be a representative for every single person in this district,” Davids said Tuesday night.
Davids repeatedly tried to emphasize bipartisanship, including examples of when she disagreed with her own party, like her opposition to a plan to forgive some student loan debt, and when she crossed the aisle to help Republicans, like when she voted to help House Speaker Mike Johnson keep his seat.
Davids was even able to secure the endorsement of the Kansas Farm Bureau, a group that often supports Republicans at the national level, for her work on the House Agriculture Committee.
But, while portraying herself as a candidate willing to work across the aisle, Davids – and the Kansas Democratic Party – aggressively attacked Reddy, calling him too extreme on issues like abortion rights and lowering the cost of health care.
Abortion still matters
Davids’ campaign focused heavily on her support for abortion rights, an issue that has been salient for the Democratic party since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and Kansas’ abortion rights protections took on even greater significance in the region.
Reddy, like Republicans across the country, struggled with how to navigate the issue, as his party has become tied to anti-abortion activists who reliably vote for Republican candidates, but whose hard-line positions have become politically unpopular.
A political newcomer, Reddy tried to play up his life story as an immigrant who became a successful physician and joined the Air Force Reserve after the September 11 terrorist attacks. His campaign focused on illegal immigration and the economy, saying Davids had not done enough in Congress to help Kansans.
Ultimately, the argument failed to gain traction from voters.
“It’s been the honor of a lifetime, and while tonight’s outcome isn’t what we wanted, I’m so grateful for everyone who stood with us on this journey,” Reddy said in a statement. “I congratulate Sharice Davids on her victory. The values we campaigned on remain, and this is not the end of our fight.”
Reddy walked a tightrope of distancing himself from some of the more extreme policies held by members of his party, while also embracing support from controversial leaders like House Speaker Mike Johnson.
It was a disconnect Davids repeatedly attempted to highlight – often associating Reddy with a federal abortion ban, rather than Reddy’s own position of leaving the issue up to the state. He eventually tried to take the issue head-on issuing an ad saying he respects the current abortion laws in Kansas, a tacit acknowledgment that abortion access remains a prominent issue, even two years after the Dobbs decision.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, which featured Reddy as a “Young Gun” who had a chance of flipping the Democratic seat, ultimately did not spend much on the race, instead focusing on tighter races in states like California or New York that could determine which party wins control of the House for the next Congress. Davids raised three times more than Reddy throughout the campaign.
For the past four elections, Davids has effectively put the district out of reach for Republicans.
While the district has swung back and forth between Democrats and Republicans over the years, Davids has been able to increase her vote margin in each election – even after the Kansas Legislature added more Republicans when redrawing the district lines.
She has done so by largely staying out of the political fray. Where some Democrats facing tough reelections helped push President Joe Biden out of the presidential campaign this summer, Davids kept her opinion to herself, staying out of the debate until after Biden stepped down.
The quiet approach has largely kept her from raising a national profile like other members of Congress. But Bob Beatty, a political science professor at Washburn University, said her low profile may be a significant reason she’s been able to maintain such a firm hold on her seat in Congress.
“If she goes national, that could hurt her going forward,” Beatty said. “Because right now, some of these Republican voters that are voting for think of her as really looking out for the district.”
“So her one danger would be to actually get more famous, ironically, which he hasn’t done.”
Star reporters Matthew Kelly and Eleanor Nash contributed to this reporting.
This story was originally published November 5, 2024 at 10:33 PM.
