Sharice Davids, a former White House Fellow and all around badass, is running for a Kansas Congressional seat. If elected, Davids will not only be the first Native American woman in Congress, but also the first openly gay Kansas representative, reports The Seattle Times. She is a member of the Ho-Chunk nation in Wisconsin.
"As a woman and a Native American, I know how to stand up and fight for equity," Davids writes on her campaign website. Her first priority as a Congressional representative is increasing gun safety, which includes tightening restrictions on gun ownership and finding a way around the amendment that forbids the Center for Disease Control (CDC) from researching gun control as a public health issue. Other issues that Davids will address as a Congressional representative include climate change, education reform, equal rights, healthcare, and immigration reform.
Davids has dedicated her life to encouraging economic development in Native American and other marginalized communities. Before she was a White House Fellow, she lived on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, where she developed an entrepreneurship curriculum at a local high school and gave legal counsel to the CDC. She also co-founded a video podcast, Starty Pants, which showcases Kansas City entrepreneurs, especially women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ community. And she has competed in professional Mixed Martial Arts, so, she literally kicks ass. On her website, she writes:
I am proud to call myself a Kansan. But I have been disheartened by the way our district has been represented in Congress. We deserve a voice who represents our values and interests.
Since graduating from Johnson County Community College, I earned a law degree from Cornell and have focused my career on bringing equity and opportunity to underserved communities. After completing a year as a White House Fellow in Washington during the Obama-Trump transition, I know that now is the time to take action for our community and for our nation.
As the daughter of a single mother Army veteran, I know the importance of determination and service to country. As a woman and a Native American, I know how to stand up and fight for equity. As a lawyer, economic advisor, and advocate, I know how to build consensus and get things done.
Want to help elect this incredible woman to Congress? Check out her campaign website for volunteering/donation information!
photo via shariceforcongress.com
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Elizabeth F. Olson is an editorial intern at BUST. She mostly writes about her experience with mental illness through a feminist lens, and sometimes she writes fiction. Find her on Instagram and Twitter.
