KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Second-term U.S. House Rep. Sharice Davids, a Kansas Democrat, defeated Republican challenger Amanda Adkins handily five months ago, but Adkins wants a rematch in 2022.
Adkins formally re-launched her campaign for the U.S. House Representatives on Monday, posting a nearly two-minute ad that features Mike Pompeo, who served as U.S. Secretary of State under former President Trump.
“We need more common-sense conservative, female, business-minded voices in Congress,” Adkins said in a statement announcing her 2022 candidacy. “I want to represent the people of the Third District in Washington to get things done, end the gridlock and solve the problems that people are facing with their families every day. My experience as a business leader, mother, and community champion for solutions in healthcare will bring perspective missing in Washington. I believe the government’s role should be providing economic lift to a region, not furthering dependency on the government for generations to come.”
She lost to Davids in the general election in November 2020 by 10%, a margin of more than 41,000 votes, for Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District seat in the House.
Adkins emerged from a relatively competitive five-candidate field in the August 2020 Republican primary to challenge Davids.
She received 30.6% of the vote in a field that also included Sara Hart Weir (23%), Adrienne Vallejo Foster (20.1%) and Mike Beehler (19.4%). Tom Love also received a little less than 7% of the vote in the primary.
Adkins has worked as an executive at Cerner for the last 15 years and served as the Kansas GOP chair from 2009 to 2013. She headed up the Kansas Children’s Cabinet, a state agency that reviews children's programs and makes funding recommendations, under former Gov. Sam Brownback.
Adkins also is co-founder of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Excellence in Public Service Series, which aims to groom Republican women political candidates.
With the Kansas Legislature set to redraw congressional districts ahead of the 2022 elections, the 3rd District could become more competitive for a GOP candidate.
Davids is now in her second term after unseating four-term Republican incumbent Kevin Yoder in 2018.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
