From professional fighter to the halls of Congress
In short: Before she was a prominent voice in the U.S. House of Representatives, Sharice Davids traded the octagon for the courtroom. A former professional mixed martial artist and attorney, she has broken significant barriers as the first openly LGBT Native American elected to Congress.
Born in Frankfurt, West Germany, in 1980, Sharice Davids is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation. Her path to political leadership was marked by diverse professional chapters, including a career as a professional mixed martial artist during the 2010s. While she competed in the amateur circuit in 2006, her professional MMA career saw a record of 1 win and 1 loss.
Since her election in 2018, Davids has served as the U.S. representative for Kansas's 3rd congressional district. She achieved a landmark win, marking the first time a Democrat has held a Kansas congressional seat in a decade. She is also one of only two Native American women ever elected to Congress, alongside Deb Haaland.
In Washington, Davids holds several influential roles, including serving as the ranking member for the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Research, and Biotechnology. She also serves as the vice-chair for the New Democrat Coalition. Her legislative work includes co-sponsoring the 988 LGBTQ+ Youth Access Act of 2025, which aims to restore specific funding for LGBTQ+ services within the national suicide and crisis lifeline.
Davids's political trajectory has seen her navigate complex redistricting and high-stakes elections. In 2022, despite district boundaries shifting westward to include more rural areas, she secured reelection with 54.9% of the vote. In 2024, she won a fourth term by defeating Republican Prasanth Reddy with 53.4% of the vote.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Sharice Davids
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