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Sharice is a fighter
……ShariceDavids https://www.shariceforcongress.com/ is running against the incumbent Congressman in Kansas’s third Congressional District. Both are young. He is a little over forty. She is a little under forty. They are different politically. Their lives have been lived differently.
……Congressman Kevin Yoder uses that difference. He disparages Sharice Davids. He says he is genuinely Kansan. She is not. He says she doesn’t know Kansan values.
……ShariceDavids‘ supporters remind him and us that she is a Native American, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation. Admittedly, her tribe is based in Wisconsin, not Kansas. The Ho-Chunks were hunters and farmers in areas of what is now Green Bay, Wisconsin, parts of Minnesota parts of Iowa and, for a different sub-group, parts of Nebraska for a very long time. Consider the lives and values of these candidates.
……Congressman Kevin Yoder’s progress was steady and rapid and easy. Like many politicians in the South and the Midwest, he got his start as the state university student body president — the University of Kansas. Like many with political ambitions, he served an internship in the state legislature.
……Sharice Davids‘ progress was choppy. She took a few college courses and finally worked her way through Johnson Community College. She worked a lot. She was the assistant manager of a drive-in. She drove for a wine company. She was a barista. She coordinated meetings for a Marriott.
……Congressman Yoder went to the University of Kansas Law School. He was president the student Bar Association. After two internships, he joined a small firm and became a partner within three years. In 2002, he returned to the legislature as an elected. Reelected three times, the closest he came to failure was as Chair of the Appropriation Committee. Amidst Kansas’s financial turmoil, the Committee’s harsh proposal to balance the state budget was rejected.
……Sharice Davids developed a focus. In 2007, she completed her BA at the University of Missouri — Kansas City. She skipped right past local and went to Cornell Law School. She graduated and went to work in mergers and acquisitions for Denton’s, an enormous international law firm.
……Yoder stayed on the path. He ran for Congress and won. Winning, he was the object of a complaint. He and his campaign created a website using his opponent’s name to “expose” his opponent’s positions. The Elections Commission rejected the complaint — 3 Republicans to 2 Democrats. Yoder was not challenged again seriously until 2018. Is creating an oppo website a Kansas value?
……Sharice Davids took, not a U turn, but a different turn. She left Denton’s and turned her hobby into a job. She became a professional fighter (not that lawyers aren’t sometimes professional fighters). She was a professional Mixed Martial Arts fighter.
……With her mergers and acquisitions earnings, in addition to her modest Mixed Martial Arts earnings, Sharice Davidst turned to helping Native Americans. She started a coffee roasting business on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. She expanded that commitment to become Deputy Director of the Pine Ridge Reservation’s community development organization. While doing this work, she joined the Board of Directors of the Ho-Chunk’s Twelve Clans, Inc. for economic development. Community Development, Economic Development. At least as consistent with Kansas values as mergers and acquisitions. More consistent than creating phony websites.
……President Obama’s White House liked the look of what Sharice Davids was doing. Sharice Davids was invited to be a White House fellow. She served for two years — under both a Democratic and Republican president. She went to Kansas and started a business — podcasts and You Tube broadcasts of interviews with entrepreneurs. Is starting a business in Kansas a Kansas value? What about being interested in entrepreneurs?
……In Congress, along with a Democrat, Yoder, who served as co-chair of the Civility Caucus, received the Consensus Civility award. He was honored for respectful and bipartisan efforts in work with members of both political parties. Stephene Moore, the obstetrics nurse who he defeated in 2010 with the help of the false website would not agree that Yoder deserves a civility award.
……Yoder is in a real contest. He is said to have raised more money than any Congressional candidate in Kansas history. Disparaging Sharice Davids‘ lack of Kansas values is his signal for the kind of campaign he plans to run. Endorsed by the NRA, endorsed by Kansans for Life, opponent of the Affordable Care Act, supporter of the tax cut for the wealthy, he focuses on something other than issues against Sharice Davids,
……Sharice Davidswas the moderate candidate in the Democratic primary. Bernie Sanders and new star Ocasio-Cortez came to Kansas to bolster the Democratic candidate whose views resonated with theirs. Not Sharice Davids. Sharice Davids won the primary.
……Kansas analysts suggest that when Yoder decries Sharice Davids‘ values, he is not attacking her commitment to supporting entrepreneurs and free enterprise, He is not attacking her as a Native American. He is not even attacking her support for the Affordable Care Act or her opposition to the federal tax cut. He is attacking her because she is gay.
……If Kansas values have something to do with fair play… If Kansas values have something to do with respect for individual differences, Sharice Davids https://www.shariceforcongress.com/ is the candidate with Kansas values. If Kansas values have something to do with hard work to overcome adversity rather than an easy ride to success, Sharice Davids is the candidate with Kansas values. Help elect someone with Kansas values. Provide some support to Sharice Davids.
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