Sharice Davids

Biography

Sharice Lynnette Davids (born May 22, 1980) is an American attorney, former mixed martial artist, and politician serving as the U.S. representative from Kansas's 3rd congressional district since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she represents a district that includes most of the Kansas side of the Kansas City metropolitan area, including Kansas City, Overland Park, Prairie Village, Leawood, Lenexa, and Olathe. Elected in 2018, Davids became the first Democrat elected to represent a Kansas congressional district in a decade. She is the first openly LGBT Native American elected to the U.S. Congress, the first openly lesbian person elected to the U.S. Congress from Kansas, and one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress, along with Deb Haaland of New Mexico. She defeated incumbent Kevin Yoder in the 2018 election. She is also the second Native American to represent Kansas in Congress, after Charles Curtis, who was Herbert Hoover's vice president. As of 2022, Davids remains the only Democrat in Kansas's congressional delegation. An attorney educated at the University of Missouri–Kansas City and Cornell Law School, Davids was a professional mixed martial artist in the 2010s.