Midterm Madness: Everything You Need to Know about the Midterm Elections

The Kansas midterm elections will take place Tuesday, Nov. 6, and have the potential to shift the political alignment legislature locally and nationally for at least the next two years. Numerous offices are on the Kansas ballot, most notably the candidates for governor and the House of Representatives. Whether you can vote or not, here’s everything you need to know:

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
The House of Representatives is responsible for creating and voting on national laws — including those that directly affect Kansas, such as laws pertaining to agriculture and health care. The three people running for Kansas’ 3rd District* are Democrat Sharice Davids, Republican Kevin Yoder and Libertarian Chris Clemmons. Davids and Yoder are currently leading the race.

Q&A with the Candidates

Sharice Davids:

Q:What do voters need to know in order to understand who you are as a person?

A: I feel like the biggest thing that I want people to know about me has a lot to do with where I got my opportunity from. I’m a first generation college student, I was raised by a single mom who served in the Army for 20 years. … I don’t think any of those experiences are uncommon. … But when we think about who we see in the leadership and decision-making positions in our country, we don’t see people who have as many shared experiences.

Q: What pushed you to run for office?

A: Big picture: we just need more people with different experiences running for office, and that means a lot of things. That means things like community college, being raised by a single parent, being a first generation college student, that kind of stuff. It also means we need more women in office, for sure. … When I looked at who currently represents us and the field of candidates at the beginning of last year, I just felt like this is a place where I can put my federal policy experience and also my ground-level community and economic development work experience to a good use.

Q: What policy issues are most important to you and what steps will you take to make change happen?

A: I think the two biggest policy areas and issues are health care and education. When I think about what I can do in those spaces, I think about how we need people who, one- want to get things done, and two- are willing to have conversations across the aisle. … We need to be focused on figuring out ways to make sure everybody has access to affordable, quality health care and … we need a strong federal partner who is interested in making sure public education is properly funded and that as students move on, if and when they go to college, it is affordable and they’re not burdened by outrageous student loan debt.

Kevin Yoder:

Q:What do voters need to know in order to understand who you are as a person?

A: I’m a lifelong Kansan who wants to make my state and my country the best place in the world to raise a family, to start a business, to realize the American dream. I have spent my adult life in service at the state level and at the federal level, trying to enact policies that help improve our schools, build better roads, reform our tax code and improve the quality of life of citizens in our country.

Q: What pushed you to run for office?

A: My parents always taught me the value of strong communities and of service. My father was a farmer, so he helped teach me the values of hard work and determination, and my mother was a social worker, and she helped me understand that not everybody has the same opportunities in life. I aim to remove obstacles and create avenues for everyone to realize the American dream, so I try to use that upbringing to enact policies that help improve the lives of everyone.

Q: What policy issues are most important to you and what steps will you take to make change happen?

A: First of all, we need to keep our economy strong, because that means when you get out of college and our young folks are looking for work, there’s lots of economic opportunity. … We want to keep this economy strong, and that requires keeping taxes down. … That means keeping the regulatory climate down, so we’re not over regulating our small businesses, making it hard on them to create jobs, and it means investing in our economy. We need to continue to invest in medical research, education, transportation, our national defense and our veterans. These are things we’ve been doing, so we have a good track record. … We need to keep helping give people the tools to succeed in the American economy and we need to keep our company moving forward, not turning backwards with higher taxes, greater government and more dependency.

GOVERNOR

The primary responsibilities of the elected governor will be to influence the state budget — from education funding to health care benefits — and to implement the laws passed by Congress, including the ones that directly affect students. There are five people running for Kansas governor: Democrat Laura Kelly, Republican Kris Kobach, Independent Greg Orman, Libertarian Jeff Caldwell and Independent Rick Kloos. According to a poll conducted by Emerson College from Sept. 26-28, Kelly and Kobach are nearly tied at 37 and 36 percent respectively, while Orman is in a distant third at 9 percent.

VOTING

If you want change to happen — or you want to make sure nothing changes at all — vote.

This local election has the potential to have an impact at the national level. To gain the majority in the House of Representatives, democrats need to gain 24 seats. Twenty-five districts nationally who voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election currently have Republican representatives up for re-election — including this district which encompasses all of SMSD. If these 25 districts continue their trend of voting blue, Democrats will take control of the House — an occurrence that may drastically shift national politics for the next two years, according to the Washington Post.

The race between Davids and Yoder is tight: Davids has a 51 percent chance of winning compared to Yoder’s 45.7 percent chance, according to Nate Silver, the political statistician who perfectly predicted the Electoral College in the 2012 presidential election. This is one of the races that will impact whether or not Democrats gain the majority in the House.

Since all laws need to be approved by both chambers, if Democrats control the House while Republicans control the Senate, it’s unlikely any substantial legislation will be passed. The current Republican legislative agenda will be dead, blocked by the Democrat-dominated House, if the election swings blue, according to the Vox news website. There will be political gridlock for at least the next two years. Whether you want this or not, voting is a way to make your opinion heard.

Even if you’re convinced the candidate you support doesn’t have a chance, your vote can make an impact, because the margin of victory — the percentage between the winner and the second place candidate — matters. The closer the race is, the more moderate policies the winner must support in office, so they don’t jeopardize their re-election. Individuals votes can make an impact in the margin of victory.

For more information on where you can vote and what’s on your ballot, click here.