U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids has won reelection in Kansas' 3rd Congressional District, defeating Republican challenger Eric Jenkins to secure a fifth term representing the Kansas City-area district. The Roeland Park Democrat first won the seat in 2018 and has now held off GOP challengers in four straight contests.
According to KSHB 41 Kansas City, Davids defeated Jenkins with over 60% of the vote, based on unofficial results from the Associated Press. A live results tracker from PoliWave showed Davids with 198,415 votes, or 60.1%, to Jenkins' 125,176 votes, or 37.9%, as of Tuesday — though that same PoliWave listing noted that no winner had officially been called in the race as of that snapshot.
Libertarian candidate Steven Hohe also appeared on the ballot, pulling in 6,711 votes, or 2.0%, per the PoliWave tally. Davids advanced to the general election after defeating Sarah Preu in the Democratic primary in August, the station's report notes.
A District Anchored in Johnson County
Kansas' 3rd Congressional District covers all of Johnson, Miami, Franklin and Anderson counties, along with parts of Wyandotte County, per the same account. Cities within its boundaries include Overland Park, Olathe, Lenexa, Shawnee, Leawood, Gardner and Kansas City, Kansas.
The financial gap between the two candidates was stark heading into Election Day. Before final campaign finance reports the previous month, Davids had raised roughly $3.7 million compared with Jenkins' $19,000, according to the Johnson County Post. That outlet also reported that Davids has won each of her reelection bids by double-digit percentage-point margins.
A Steady Climb Since 2018
Davids' win Tuesday extends a pattern of durable support in a district that has shifted over the years. She beat then-incumbent Kevin Yoder for the seat in 2018 by nearly ten percentage points, and won her 2022 reelection by 12 points, according to KCUR. That station has reported that Johnson County, which makes up the bulk of the district's population, has become more Democratic-leaning with each election cycle.
Davids won the seat in 2024 with 53.4% of the vote, per PoliWave's figures, and she has won at least 53% of the vote in each of her first four congressional races, according to KMBC. Tuesday's result, with Davids clearing 60% in the unofficial count reported by KSHB, would mark her strongest showing yet if it holds through certification.
With her win, Davids heads back to Washington for a fifth term representing a district that has reliably backed her since she first unseated Yoder in 2018. The 3rd District remains one of the few competitive-turned-comfortable seats in the Kansas City metro area, anchored by the growing suburban population of Johnson County.
