Rematch: Amanda Adkins will try again in 2022 for Sharice Davids’ seat in Congress
After losing by 10 points in November, Kansas businesswoman Amanda Adkins is seeking a rematch with U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids in 2022.
Adkins announced her plans to once again run for the 3rd Congressional District seat in a video posted to Twitter on Monday.
“My time as a leader in business innovation with deep healthcare experience is more important than ever,” Adkins tweeted.
Adkins is the first candidate to enter the Republican primary for the seat in a year where GOP candidates may be more likely to succeed.
Kansas Republicans, who hold supermajorities in Topeka, said last year they intend to reshape the 3rd District to be more favorable to GOP candidates next year when they redraw congressional lines based on the 2020 Census.
Adkins, who left her job as an executive at Cerner earlier this year, said in an interview Monday that she was encouraged to run again after seeing that she had outperformed U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall and former President Donald Trump in Johnson County last year.
“It’s an opportunity for me to run against a Biden agenda, and clearly, from the perspective of a lot of people here in the third, President Biden is overreaching fairly significantly and Sharice Davids is supporting him,” Adkins said.
Adkins said her campaign would focus on economic growth, simpler government and “smarter health care.” She said she expected to earn support from Kansans frustrated by potential Biden tax increases.
In a statement, Monday, Davids spokeswoman Johanna Warsaw did not directly address Adkins’ announcement.
“Rep. Davids’ sole focus is on getting the coronavirus under control and our economy back up and running again. That’s why she voted for the American Rescue Plan, which is already helping to put vaccines into arms, money into pockets, people back to work, and keep kids safely in the classroom,” Warsaw said.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said in a statement that voters had already rejected Adkins, who had ties to former Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback.
“It’s no surprise that the Republican establishment in Kansas is lining up to support Adkins, who supported their education-gutting agenda. Kansans know Adkins and her toxic agenda would be disastrous for working families, which is why they’ll re-elect Congresswoman Sharice Davids because she’s always had their backs,” said DCCC spokesperson Helen Kalla.
Adkins had signaled she may be planning to run again, and she enters the race with a potential spending advantage over other possible GOP candidates.
In December, Adkins sent out fundraising pleas tied to the two runoff Senate elections in Georgia. According to the emails, two-thirds of the money would be sent to the GOP candidates there while the remaining third would stay with Adkins.
According to the Federal Election Commission, Adkins finished 2020 with more than $42,000 on hand, which could be rolled over into a 2022 campaign. Davids has more than $479,000 in the bank.
Adkins’ did not speak in her announcement video but instead featured a key endorsement from former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was first elected to Congress, representing the Wichita area, while Adkins was chair of the state Republican Party.
Adkins said Monday that she had a decades-long relationship with Pompeo and believed the endorsement would carry weight with Kansans.
“People in this state statewide are very proud of his track record as secretary of state, just as much here in Kansas City as in Wichita,” Adkins said. “They view him as having been a visionary and a real leader, a tough leader, as it relates to our relationship with China.”
Pompeo and his wife, Susan Pompeo, referenced Adkins’ leadership skills and their longstanding professional relationship in the video.
Susan Pompeo fundraised for Adkins’ 2020 campaign and co-founded with her the Eisenhower Excellence in Public Service Series for GOP women.
“I know Amanda has the courage and the resolve that we need here in America,” Mike Pompeo said in the video.
In the GOP primary last August, Adkins won 30.7% of the vote among a field of five candidates. In the general election, she received 43.6% of the votes, compared to Davids’ 53.6%.
The district currently encompasses Johnson and Wyandotte counties and a portion of Miami County.
This story was originally published April 5, 2021 at 12:56 PM.
