Ponka-We Victors

Ponka-We Victors (born July 7, 1981) is a community support worker from Wichita, Kansas who has been a Democratic member of the Kansas House of Representatives, representing District 103, since 2011.[1] She is the only Native American in the Kansas legislature.[2]

Ponka-We Victors
Member of the Kansas House of Representatives
from the 103rd district
Assumed office
2011
Preceded byDelia Garcia
Personal details
Born (1981-07-07) July 7, 1981
Wichita, Kansas, U.S.
NationalityPonca Tribe of Oklahoma-Tohono O'odham Native American
Political partyDemocratic
ResidenceNewman University, Wichita, Kansas
Alma materWichita State University
ProfessionCommunity Support Worker
Websitehttp://www.votevictors.com/

Background

Victors is a member of the Ponca and Tohono O'odham tribes of Native Americans, and a lifelong resident of Wichita. She earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Newman University in 2005, and a Master of Public Administration from Wichita State University in 2008.[3]

Elected office

Victors, who had worked as a Congressional intern, had been a long-time backer of Delia Garcia, the incumbent Representative from the 103rd District. In 2010, Garcia, instead of running for re-election, helped Victors file as the only candidate for the 2010 Democratic primary election just hours before the filing deadline, thus making her the presumptive winner of the seat – the last year in which a Republican vied for this seat was 1998, when incumbent Democrat Thomas Klein polled 57% of the vote in a three-way race.[4] Victors ran unopposed in the November general election.[5]

In 2012, she beat challenger Angela Martinez in the Democratic primary and was again unopposed in the November general election.[6][7][8]

"Illegal immigrants" speech

In 2013, Victors drew national attention when during a hearing on a bill to deny in-state tuition to Kansas high school graduates who were undocumented immigrants, Victors addressed Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and other advocates of the bill, saying, "I think it's funny, Mr. Kobach, because when you mention illegal immigrant, I think of all of you."[9][10]

Career

Victors is currently employed by a company called Behavioral Link.

References
  1. "Representative Ponka-We Victors". Kansas Legislature, 2015-2016 Legislative Sessions. Kansas Legislative Information System and Services. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  2. Dennis Zotigh (21 November 2014). "Meet Native America: Ponka-We Victors, Kansas State Representative". National Museum of the American Indian. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  3. "Get to Know Ponka-We". Ponka-We Victors for State Representative 103 District. Ponka-We Victors for Kansas House. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  4. "Koranda, Jeannine. "Wichita's 103rd District has a new state representative: Ponka-We Victors" [[Wichita Eagle]] June 10, 2010". Archived from the original on March 24, 2013. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  5. Official Kansas House of Representatives General Election Results, 2010
  6. Kansas Secretary of State, "Candidates for the 2012 primary (official)"
  7. C-SPAN, "Kansas – Summary Vote Results" Archived 2013-05-29 at the Wayback Machine
  8. "Kansas Secretary of State, 2012 Unofficial Kansas General Election Results". Archived from the original on 2013-02-02. Retrieved 2013-03-22.
  9. Marso, Andy. "Emotions flow during immigrant tuition hearing; Indian lawmaker to Kobach: Who's the illegal immigrant here?" Topeka Capital-Journal March 20, 2013
  10. Planas, Roque. "Kris Kobach Slammed By Native American Rep. Ponka-We Victors: ‘When You Mention Illegal Immigrant, I Think Of All Of You'" Huffington Post March 21, 2013
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