Local Democrats respond to female wins in Congress, governors races
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By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
People react at the Ellis County Democratic Watch Party Tuesday night when Kansas Gubernatorial Candidate Laura Kelly is projected as the winner.
The Ellis County Democratic Watch Party erupted into cheers several times Tuesday night as the crowd watched election returns.
The first cheer arose when the national news media projected Democrat Laura Kelly the winner of Kansas governor’s race over Republican front-runner Kris Kobach.
The crowd erupted again when the national media predicted Democrats would regain control of the U.S. House.
Local Democrats, many who had campaigned for Laura Kelly, said they were pleased to see not only Democrats winning seats, but women in both parties earning positions of leadership in government.
One hundred women were elected to Congress Tuesday night, the most in history. This included Democrat from Kansas Sharice Davids, the first female Native American, as well as the first female LGBTQ community member of color to be elected to Congress. She will represent Kansas’ 3rd District. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan were also the first muslim women elected to Congress.
Jennifer Harmon of Ellis took her daughter, Jade, a second-grader at Washington Elementary School, with her as she campaigned for Kelly and Democrat Eber Phelps for the 111th Kansas House seat.
“It was a huge learning experience for her,” she said of campaigning with her daughter. “She absolutely loved it. My daughter is a Girl Scout, and she learned a lot about going out and campaigning and just learning about voting and the rights of voting and why it is important, why elections are important, why women in government are important. It was a huge learning experience for her.”
According to the Associated Press, nationally, women voted considerably more in favor of their congressional Democratic candidate: 56 percent voted for the Democrat, compared with 41 percent voting for the Republican. Men were more narrowly divided in their vote. Women ages 18 to 29 voted strongly Democratic, with 65 percent of those voters favoring the Democratic candidate.
White women were narrowly divided in their views: 50 percent of white women voted for the Republican, while 47 percent voted for the Democrat. Among non-white women, 80 percent voted for the Democrat.
Harmon said she met many women who were mobilized to vote in this election cycle.
Kansas voter registrations have surged this past year heading into the midterm election. The Kansas Secretary of State’s office released the latest numbers Monday showing more than 1.84 million registered voters, up 40,825 people added to voter rolls since September 2017, according to the Associated Press.
Republicans remain the dominant party with 817,713 registered voters, while Democrats grew their ranks to 463,114. Unaffiliated voters totaled 543,403, while Libertarians totaled 17,618.
Women also won eight governor’s races Tuesday, one shy of a record. That included Kelly’s win in Kansas.
Harmon said she thought Kelly touched on key issues for her and helped mobilize her.
“I think it is just absolutely amazing,” she said of Kelly’s win. “I think it is great for my kids’ future with schools. That was the biggest thing that was a concern for me in campaigning for her.”
Mary Rohr, 72, of Hays, said she was also excited to see women bringing home election wins. She said she was surprised but pleased to see Davids pick up a seat in the 3rd District.
“I think women are getting out there, and they think they can make a difference, so they are going for it,” she said.
Rohr, a Kelly supporter, said she thought the governor-elect has done wonderful work in the Kansas House and she looks forward to her work as governor.
