Sharice Davids on Tuesday made history,
becoming the first Native American and openly gay member of Congress
from Kansas.
In her first foray into politics,
Davids defeated four-term incumbent Republican Representative Kevin
Yoder. It is the first time a Democrat has won Kansas' 3rd
Congressional District in a decade.
With 93 percent of districts reporting,
Davids took 53.2 percent of the vote to Yoder's 44.3 percent.
Davis Hammett, an LGBT activist from
Topeka and the co-founder of Equality House, called Davids' win
“significant beyond Kansas.”
“It's significant beyond Kansas,”
Hammett told The
Kansas City Star. “This is significant to all LGBT folks
in the Midwest. She really feels like the voice for all the LGBT
folks in the Midwest. And I know that there's a similar feeling in
Native American communities.”
“Having figures like Sharice Davids
literally saves lives,” Hammett added.
Davids, a member of the Ho-Chunk
Nation, was raised by a single mother who served in the U.S. Army.
She graduated from Cornell Law School in 2009.