Kendra Fershee
There is a law professor looking for a new job. Kendra Fershee, professor at West Virginia University College of Law, is looking to expand her area of expertise outside of academia, and she’s running for Congress against the GOP incumbent David McKinley.
While West Virginia’s first district is traditionally Republican country, Fershee is attempting to ride the anticipated progressive wave into Congress. She’s not the first law professor to throw her hat into the political arena, and she’s an advocate for progressive values. But outside of her adopted hometown, her run hasn’t gotten much attention. So, we’re going to remedy that.
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Here are 5 facts about Kendra Fershee, the law professor looking to take on the system.
1. She’s a vocal opponent of Citizens United, saying:
It is imperative that voters have an equal voice in politics. Buying votes has led to serious problems for working class Americans and our freedom is at stake when our interests aren’t represented by our representative.
2. She’s also been critical of the way her opponent is raising his money. Of the $950,000 McKinley has raised so far, only ~$10,000 has been from small donations. And Fershee thinks this could make him vulnerable to a wave of blue voters during the midterms:
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“Look at the rooms that he’s in when he goes out to talk to people,” she said. “He’s not having public town halls, he’s not talking to his constituents. He’s talking to donors, he’s in closed-door, register-in-advance, members-only, employees-only meetings. He’s not actually talking to West Virginia voters and he’s not getting money from West Virginia voters.”
3. One of her top priorities is helping end the opioid crisis. West Virginia is first in the country in overdose deaths, and Fershee is hoping to stop that. Her comprehensive plan of attack also includes going after pharmaceutical companies… who just happen to donate to her opponent:
The opioid crisis is a public health emergency. For decades, Congress has worked to criminalize victims of addiction, and the war on drugs has proven to be completely ineffective. Kendra will work tirelessly to put a stop to the useless war on drugs and create pathways to better treatment options for families who suffer from opioid addiction.
Kendra’s comprehensive plans to attack the opioid crisis also involves increasing the availability of the life-saving drug, naloxone. This drug has saved countless lives and it is imperative that we make it more available to first responders and family members.
In addition, we must hold big drug companies accountable. This multi-billion-dollar industry is lining their pockets while our neighbors, friends, and loved ones are suffering the life-ending consequences. As a family law professor, Kendra has dedicated her career to serving West Virginia families, and the livelihood of our loved ones is a fight she’ll keep up until there’s a solution!
4. She’s not a fan of the Affordable Care Act. No, she’s not going to just repeal it — she supports universal health care, though there is not a specific plan that she endorses:
“I look at it as, the system we currently have is not going to be feasible long-term,” she said. “With rising health care costs, and people being farther and farther away from being able to get access to health care, I don’t think it’s sustainable. I think we have to do something, particularly in West Virginia. We’ve got an aging population and we’ve got a population that is dying of drug addiction. If we don’t do something about health care and make sure that we have a healthy population, I don’t know what it looks like for a state to collapse, but I’m afraid we’re going to see it.”
5. She wasn’t always a lawyer. Before heading to Tulane to get her J.D., she was a political organizer for an organization that focused on first amendment, public education, and civil rights issues. She’s also a smarty pants — she graduated law school cum laude and was Senior Managing Editor of the Tulane Law Review. Fershee is also a former Biglaw associate — she did time at Milbank Tweed — and she and her husband restored an old house in North Dakota, when they were both on the faculty at University of North Dakota School of Law.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).