Rep. Sharice Davids has filed to run for a fifth term in Kansas’ Third U.S. House District, casting herself as a check on “extremism” in Washington, D.C.
The four-term Democrat officially filed paperwork for a new term in Topeka last week.
The move sets up another race to represent Johnson County in Congress, which, for the first time in Davids’ tenure, will come with a primary challenge.
In a phone interview with the Johnson County Post, though, Davids kept her main line of attack centered on what she called the “chaos” of the Trump administration and “reckless” policies like tariffs and the war with Iran that, she said, are making life for many everyday Kansans less affordable.
“I continue to hear from folks about how hard they’re working and how they’re doing everything right and still are struggling with these rising costs and the economic uncertainty that they’re having to face.
“The billionaires are the only ones who are doing better,” she said.
Ends talk of a Senate run
Davids’ filing also officially ends any speculation that she would attempt to run for U.S. Senate this year, challenging Republican Roger Marshall.
She kept that possibility open in recent months as statehouse Republicans, following the lead of President Trump, worked to curry enough support to redraw Kansas’ Congressional district lines to make the Third District less favorable for Democrats.
Ultimately, the legislature did not act, and the Democratic field to challenge Marshall has filled up with at least nine other candidates filing or declaring their intention to run.
Though the Third District’s current lines won’t be impacted, Davids called the push to redistrict Congressional lines around the country ahead of November’s midterms — accelerated by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais — “outrageous.”
She said she’d support legislation to ban partisan gerrymandering in future elections.
“No one should have to worry about their voice mattering less in our elections because politicians are deciding to play games and trying to pick their voters,” she said.
Affordability promises to be a key issue
In her interview with the Post, Davids focused her message on affordability, noting that Kansans she talks with are complaining of higher gas prices, electricity bills, groceries and the ballooning cost of housing.
She attributes these spikes, in part, to the policies of the Trump administration and Republicans in Washington. She noted a figure recently released by Democrats on the Congressional Joint Economic Committee that estimated families, on average, will pay $2,500 more this year due to Trump’s tariffs.
She also criticized Republicans’ move to roll back Medicaid through the “big, beautiful” bill signed into law last year.
“People are getting up, going to work, taking their kids to school, just like working hard and doing everything right and literally still struggling to make ends meet,” she said.
She said Trump’s war with Iran has exacerbated the affordability problems, particularly at the pump.
“Gas is over $4 a gallon in Kansas, which is — I mean, that’s coastal prices right there,” she said.
The Kansas GOP used affordability in its own line of attack against Davids soon after she announced her filing to run.
In a statement, Rob Fillion, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party, said Davids had shown “unwavering support of the Biden-Democrat agenda that has driven up inflation, weakened border security, and left working families behind.”
“From reckless spending packages to soft-on-crime policies and an open-border approach that has strained communities across the country, Congresswoman Davids has shown voters exactly where her priorities lie,” Fillion continued.
A challenge from the left
For the first time since being elected to Congress in 2018, Davids will have a primary challenger.
Sarah Preu, a technology and communications specialist from Fairway, is staking out a campaign to Davids’ left. Preu’s campaign website calls for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, supports Medicare for All and promotes legislation to establish a federal $17-an-hour minimum wage.
Preu says on her website she voted for Davids four times and even canvassed for her but has grown disillusioned, particularly when it comes to immigration, noting Davids’ vote earlier this year to temporarily extend funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
“The landscape has changed. Bipartisanship has become a comfortable way to manage decline, and capitulation to terrible policy is not the compromise Kansans were promised,” Preu says on her website.
In her interview with the Post, Davids stressed her commitment to finding a “comprehensive plan” to both secure the border and also “treat humans like humans.”
She said too often the issue of immigration is used to “score political points” and “divide people.” But she admitted that “our current immigration system is broken.”
“We need to have a secure border, but we also need to make sure that we have lawful and effective immigration enforcement, that we have a system that is actually rooted in accountability and transparency,” she said. “What we don’t need to see is masked federal agents, detaining, injuring and, as we’ve seen, killing U.S. citizens.”
In addition to Davids and Preu on the Democratic side, one Republican has so far filed to run for the Third District seat: Chase LaPorte, a U.S. Army veteran and small business owner from Mission.
In a response to survey questions from Ballotpedia, LaPorte said his three key issues were lower inflation, a balanced federal budget and backing Congressional term limits.
“Honored” to run again
Davids, when asked why voters of the Third District should reelect her again, said she has been “honored and privileged” to represent Johnson County and the broader area for four terms, and she stressed her willingness to work across the aisle.
“I will continue to work with anyone, whether they’re Republicans, Democrats or Independents, to push back against extremism, because I do think that that is a huge concern of voters that they don’t want to see these extreme policies,” she said.
Davids has won each of her last three reelection bids by double-digit percentage point margins, and the Cook Political Report currently puts Kansas’ Third in its “Solid Democratic” category.
She says she’s worked hard to earn voters’ trust and serve the district now and going forward.
“We do want people to be able to access health care. We do want people to be able to afford insulin and other prescription drugs. We want to make sure that our kids have opportunities like we did,” she said.
