Kansas Republicans on Friday got a first glimpse of their candidates seeking to unseat Democratic Congresswoman Sharice Davids in the 3rd District.
Appearing in their first debate at the state GOP convention, Amanda Adkins, Adrienne Vallejo Foster and Sara Hart Weir made their case to the GOP faithful about why they should be the party’s nominee to take on Davids.
With a debate spiced with talk about socialism creeping into the Democratic Party, each of the three candidates sought to distinguish herself in a race that figures to present a tough choice to Republican voters.
“I don’t even know that there is a front runner,” said one GOP consultant speaking anonymously to be candid.
“On the grass-roots side, Adrienne Foster has done a really good job, but she’s got a money issue. Because of the money, she might be a half step back.”
The consultant had trouble picking a leader between Adkins and Weir.
“Amanda has a lot of money, but Sara has been out a lot more and has a lot of money, too,” the consultant said. “I can’t pick any one of them ahead of the others.”
All three brandished their conservative credentials but tried stepping out from the pack, whether it was Adkins’ successful run as party chair, Foster’s experience in elected office or Weir’s work as chief executive of a nonprofit.
“Having been in politics for 25 years…my win rate is pretty good,” Adkins told a packed convention ballroom Friday afternoon.
“As your state party chair, we won everything,” she said. “We won all the statewide races, we won federal races, we increased our numbers in the Legislature, and I think that matters.”
During Adkins’ tenure as state party chairwoman in 2010, Sam Brownback claimed the governor’s office, the GOP gained 16 seats in the Legislature and the GOP won all the statewide offices in what became known as the “clean sweep.”
Foster, meanwhile, touted her own electoral success in Johnson County, where she was elected to the Roeland Park City Council and later as the city’s mayor.
Foster touted her family ties to Wyandotte County, where she thinks she can siphon votes away from Davids in a general election.
“This election is about one question and one question only: Who can beat Sharice Davids,” Foster said. “I am the only candidate on this stage who can do that.
“Sharice Davids must be beaten,” she said. “I will take Democrat votes away from her in Wyandotte County. No one else on this stage can do that.”
Weir, who bills herself as the outsider in this race, touted her work as the top executive at the National Down Syndrome Society and her negotiating skills at bringing people of differing views together to find common ground.
She also cited her support from national Republicans such as Washington Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who up until 2018 had been the highest ranking woman in Republican leadership.
She also noted her support from a political action committee – known as VIEW PAC – that backs female Republican candidates.
“They know at the end of the day, they need a candidate who cannot only win in August, but win November, and I’m the only one on the stage who can beat Sharice,” Weir said.
The three candidates came into the debate at about the same time that they started reporting their campaign fundraising for the fourth quarter.
The money has been flowing toward Adkins, who has raised more than a half-million dollars since last fall and is now sitting on almost $400,000.
Adkins, an executive who is on unpaid leave from Cerner, reported raising $208,000 in the fourth quarter, compared to about $296,000 in the third quarter.
She said her campaign fundraising is an indicator of her connections to the community.
She said the successful candidate will have to know how to raise money to compete against Davids, who is sitting on a $1.5 million nest egg after raising $579,000 last quarter.
Foster, who entered the race well after Adkins and Weir announced their candidacies, reported raising about $102,000 in the fourth quarter, although she only had about $30,000 at the end of the year.
She also gave her campaign about $9,300.
“If it was all about the money, Kevin Yoder would be here today,” Foster said of the former congressman who lost to Davids in 2018.
“I am very proud of my first (campaign finance) report,” she said.
“I came in on the last three months of the year. I had Thanksgiving and I had Christmas, but I was still able to raise over $100,000.”
Weir reported raising about $88,000 in the fourth quarter, not counting a $10,000 loan.
She has about $278,000 in the bank, about $100,000 less than Adkins and significantly more than Foster.
“From a campaign perspective, we have almost as much cash on hand in looking to go into the 2020 cycle,” she said. “That’s been a priority of ours.”
