Sharice Davids made history Tuesday night as the nation’s first Native American woman and the first LGBTQ person from Kansas to be elected to Congress. Photo: Flickr.
Sharice Davids made history Tuesday night as the nation’s first Native American woman and the first LGBTQ person from Kansas to be elected to Congress.
Davids, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, is a political newcomer who defeated four-term incumbent Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder to win Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District, according to unofficial results.
With 484 of 628 precincts reporting, Davids had 53 percent of the vote to Yoder’s 45 percent, according to the Kansas City Star.
History also was made Tuesday night when Jared Polis was elected the first openly gay man elected governor in the United States.
Davids ran on a platform to ensure every student has access to public education, every American has access to affordable health care, every DACA recipient is protected and has a pathway to citizenship, and every LGBTQ person has full federal protections through the Equality Act.
“It’s significant beyond Kansas. This is significant to all LGBT folks in the Midwest. She really feels like the voice for all the LGBT folks in the Midwest. And I know that there’s a similar feeling in Native American communities,” Davis Hammett, an LGBT rights activist from Topeka, Kansas, told the Star.
Phillip Zonkel can be reached at [email protected] or 562-294-5996.
