Politics

Kansas Republican Incumbent’s $1.3 Million Cash In Hand May Not Be Enough In Hugely Expensive Race

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Republican Kansas Rep. Kevin Yoder has raised the largest amount — $1.1 million — a Republican in his district has ever pulled in over a three-month period, but Democratic challenger Sharice Davids has him beat with the $2.7 million she has raised in the same time frame.

Democrats view the fundraising win as another sign of a “blue wave” coming in November, but Yoder’s team asserts that Davids’s fundraising does not mean she has more support in the district, reported McClatchy.

“Sharice has been completely non-existent in the district because she’s raising liberal money around the country,” his campaign said in a statement according to McClatchy. “She’s skipped important local events for swanky New York fundraisers. She’s had Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris soliciting donations for her from Massachusetts and California. Meanwhile, Kevin continues to work hard and win votes here in the Third District.”

Davids broke the district’s record for fundraising, according to McClatchy.

Nonpartisan analysts like Inside Elections editor Nathan Gonzales see Davids’s huge fundraising as in line with a trend of large, late-stage influxes of funding for Democrats in the most closely contested House races, according to McClatchy.

“Normally that would be regarded as a good fundraising quarter for a U.S. senate candidate,” Gonzales said according to McClatchy. “But so many Democratic challengers are raising incredible amounts of money that $2.7 million starts to sound normal.”

Davids thanked people who “have made small-dollar investments in this campaign” in a statement that also slammed Yoder for looking out “for his special interest donors,” according to McClatchy.

News of Davids’s record-breaking funding comes days after the National Republican Congressional Committee pulled $1 million in advertising funding to support Yoder’s campaign. The decision “reportedly comes from the organization’s lack of confidence that Yoder can pull out a win,” reported The Daily Caller News Foundation Sunday.

September polls show Davids slightly ahead of Yoder. If she wins, Davids would be Kansas’s first openly gay, Native American member of Congress, according to McClatchy. Former President Barack Obama has endorsed Davids, according to the Shawnee Mission Post.

Democrats have eyed Yoder’s district since Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton “narrowly won” there in 2016, reported McClatchy.

Yoder has represented Kansas’s 3rd Congressional District since 2011 and has told TheDCNF that his campaign is relying on grassroots efforts to beat Davids in the midterm elections.

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