While most of the attention in the 37th District campaign centered around incumbent State Rep. Aaron Coleman’s past domestic cases and a traffic stop, challenger Melissa Oropeza did not focus on that in her campaign.
When asked before the election about Rep. Coleman, Oropeza answered the same as she told voters in the district – just research it and make your own conclusions. She refrained from saying anything about the incumbent, who as the youngest member of the state Legislature found himself receiving negative news coverage about some of his actions.
When going door-to-door, and the constitutional amendment on abortion came up as a topic, Oropeza also gave voters a similar answer, research it to reach your own conclusion.
The “high road” approach worked for Oropeza, who won the Democratic primary Tuesday night with 49 percent of the vote to Faith Rivera’s 38 percent and Rep. Coleman’s 13 percent. Oropeza led Rivera by 279 votes. The unofficial results will be updated later with ballots that could still be in the mail and must be counted by Friday, and also with some provisional votes.
“I made a personal decision when I decided to run a very high-level campaign and not make any statements about my opponent,” Oropeza said. She encouraged voters to do their homework, learn about the candidates themselves and vote for someone who aligned with their values and issues, she said.
The second-place candidate, Faith Rivera, had filed first and did discuss her opponent’s record. Rep. Coleman’s actions had been the subject of criticism by Democratic party officials in the Legislature. Rivera, a community activist, brought some of the allegations to the attention of the public.
Oropeza said she believes voters were definitely sending a message in this election, and she was excited to see how many people signed up to vote, with a tremendous turnout.
Turnout was about 35 percent in Wyandotte County, considerably above the normal turnout for a non-presidential primary. There were 31,799 votes cast countywide, about 8,000 more votes countywide than were cast in the 2020 primary, according to election results from the Wyandotte County Election Office.
Oropeza, 45, is a nurse practitioner in gastroenterology, and has been in the health care field for 23 years. She attended Turner High School, received an associate degree from Kansas City Kansas Community College, graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas School of Nursing, received a master’s degree in nursing from KU, and received a Doctor of Nursing Practice from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
Voters were generally thought to be motivated by the constitutional amendment on abortion on the ballot.
Oropeza said voters were making a statement that they want access to care, they want to make sure their care is not legislated by legislation.
There was a feeling on the part of voters that they wanted to make their own decisions with their doctors, without the interference of legislation.
“It’s something we do as providers every day,” said Oropeza, who is a nurse practitioner. “We give recommendations.” If the patient does not want to proceed with the recommendation, that is completely within their rights, she added.
Oropeza has a pro-choice stance, and when she went door-to-door, she heard a lot of comments from voters that they couldn’t go back to the past. The constitutional amendment language was so broadly written, it may have resulted in restrictions to access to care, many voters thought.
“We need to work on legislation that puts us forward, ahead of the pack,” Oropeza said.
Oropeza said her immediate plans are to make sure she gets out to more community events to ensure she is meeting with constituents. She wants to make sure she has a good grasp of the issues the constituents of the 37th District are interested in, to advocate for them after Nov. 8.
Oropeza will face Republican Diana Whittington in the general election Nov. 8. Whittington, who has a pro-life stance, did not have Republican primary opposition.
Oropeza said she knows the abortion issue is not over in Kansas, and it will definitely not be a sprint, but a marathon, where the issue could come up time and again. She wants to make sure they are putting out factual information, not to sway people, but to get the facts out and let people make up their own minds.
She also supports the expansion of Medicaid in Kansas; giving every student access to opportunity to advance their education or access to trade training; and support for the Kansas Promise scholarship, education at no cost to students.
With Rep. Coleman’s loss in the Tuesday night election, Wyandotte County will see a higher turnover in state representatives than it has in recent memory. Retiring or not running for re-election this year were Rep. Tom Burroughs, Rep. Kathy Wolfe Moore and Rep. Broderick Henderson.
Rep. Coleman could not be reached for this story.
See earlier story at https://wyandotteonline.com/three-run-for-democratic-primary-in-37th-district/.