Result
Rep. Melissa Oropeza (D-Kansas City) has won a third term in Kansas House District 37, defeating Republican Connie Jo Henry on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Unofficial results show Oropeza with 4,308 votes, or 71.9%, to Henry’s 1,683, or 28.1%.
That is her widest margin yet, after she won 61.8% in 2022 and 62.8% in 2024. Oropeza first took the seat by unseating Democratic incumbent Aaron Coleman in the 2022 primary, a race overshadowed by allegations of personal misconduct against Coleman. She will be sworn in for her new term when the Legislature convenes in January.
Candidates and Platforms
A Wyandotte County native and graduate of Turner High School, Oropeza is a nurse practitioner who spent years in a gastroenterology practice and became the first nurse practitioner elected to the Kansas House. She has served on the Kansas State Board of Nursing and was named the American Association of Nurse Practitioners’ Kansas advocate in 2017. In the House, she is the ranking Democrat on the Social Services Budget Committee.
Henry, who was unopposed in the August Republican primary, told the Kansas Family Voter Guide that she supports protections for mothers and the unborn and favors school choice.
District and Chamber
District 37 covers part of Kansas City, Kansas, in Wyandotte County. Oropeza returns to a chamber reshaped by the election.
Democrats gained at least 20 seats statewide on Nov. 3 and broke the Republican supermajority that had held since 2010, leaving a projected balance of 68 Republicans to 57 Democrats in the 125-seat House. That puts Republicans below the 84 seats needed to override a governor’s veto without Democratic votes.
---
AllCiv makes it easy to stay politically informed and involved.
---
Spot something wrong? Report an issue with this article