Manny Abarca

This page was last updated during the official's most recent election or appointment. Please contact us with any updates.

Manny Abarca

Democratic Party

Jackson County Legislature District 1

Tenure

2023 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

2

Predecessor

Scott Burnett

Prior offices

Kansas City Public Schools Board of Education Sub-district 3

Successor: Robert Sagastume

---

Report an officeholder change

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 8, 2022

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Personal LinkedIn

Manny Abarca (Democratic Party) is a member of the Jackson County Legislature in Missouri, representing District 1. He assumed office on January 1, 2023. His current term ends on January 1, 2027.

Abarca (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Jackson County Legislature to represent District 1 in Missouri. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Abarca completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Elections

2022

See also: Municipal elections in Jackson County, Missouri (2022)

General election

General election for Jackson County Legislature District 1

Manny Abarca defeated Christina McDonough Hunt in the general election for Jackson County Legislature District 1 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Manny Abarca (D)	78.3	35,075
		Christina McDonough Hunt (R)	21.6	9,673
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	54

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 44,802
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Jackson County Legislature District 1

Manny Abarca defeated Justice Horn and Geoff Gerling in the Democratic primary for Jackson County Legislature District 1 on August 2, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Manny Abarca	58.4	10,917
		Justice Horn	28.1	5,246
	Submit photo	Geoff Gerling	13.5	2,516

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 18,679
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Draque Murff (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Jackson County Legislature District 1

Christina McDonough Hunt advanced from the Republican primary for Jackson County Legislature District 1 on August 2, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Christina McDonough Hunt	100.0	3,314

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,314
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2021

See also: Kansas City Public Schools, Missouri, elections (2021)

General election

General election for Kansas City Public Schools Board of Education Sub-district 3

Incumbent Manny Abarca won election in the general election for Kansas City Public Schools Board of Education Sub-district 3 on April 6, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Manny Abarca (Nonpartisan)	93.9	1,213
		Other/Write-in votes	6.1	79

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,292
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2019

See also: Kansas City Public Schools, Missouri, elections (2019)

General election

The general election was canceled. Manny Abarca (Nonpartisan) won without appearing on the ballot.

2016

See also: Missouri House of Representatives elections, 2016

Elections for the Missouri House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election was held on August 2, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was March 29, 2016. Incumbent John Rizzo (D) did not seek re-election.

Ingrid Burnett defeated Valorie Engholm in the Missouri House of Representatives District 19 general election.

Missouri House of Representatives, District 19 General Election, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Ingrid Burnett	76.60%	5,479
	Green	Valorie Engholm	23.40%	1,674
Total Votes				7,153
Source: Missouri Secretary of State

Ingrid Burnett defeated Manny Abarca in the Missouri House of Representatives District 19 Democratic primary.

Missouri House of Representatives, District 19 Democratic Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Ingrid Burnett	50.61%	787
	Democratic	Manny Abarca	49.39%	768
Total Votes				1,555

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Manny Abarca completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Abarca's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

My name is Manny Abarca IV. I am a father of one precocious daughter, and a baby boy on the way. A husband to my wife Alexis and a proud Democrat. I am the son and grandson of union Teamster's who brought me up on the value of a day's hard work deserves fair pay, that supported my middle class upbringing and excelled my family out of poverty. I was taught that education is the great equalizer that can level the playing field and that's why I earned a B.A. and M.S. degrees and am pursuing a doctoral degree in leadership and policy analysis. Service to my community drives every aspect of my life, from my profession as a nonprofit executive fighting on behalf of construction workers, seeking fair pay and justice against contractors who have wronged them; and my philanthropic service on nonprofit boards and my neighborhood association. I learned early on that unless good folks run for office, we can't expect anything to get better. I grew into a social justice advocate after high school, and learned the hard way that representation matters. Currently, as the only Latino elected official in KCMO, I understand that my Latino community's voices have been underrepresented for far too long; but that isn't the only reason why I chose to run for office. We need folks who care about the flight of those who have the least, folks who care about advocating for higher wages that can expand our shrinking middle class and finally folks who are willing to put people over politics.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• If we don't curb the impact of extreme spikes in property taxes, we will drive out the very folks that make us such a diverse and vibrant County. I have a Tax Reform Plan that will help us protect seniors and low income taxpayers, make sure corporate folks pay their fair share and creates a more transparent and balanced tax assesment process.
• We must strengthen our economic development efforts in Jackson County. There is no reason why a hotel should fail across from two major league stadiums. The current Truman Sports complex should be invested in, to help prop-up revenues for the three cities that surround the staidum's-so that everyone reaps the benefit of strategic investment.
• A regional approach to every priority, from the redesigning of our publicly funded healthcare systems, to a regional transit systems that balances entertainment and workforce commutes. Similarly, we need a workforce development plan that bridges high school and career/college pathways. We have a serious, diverse workforce problem county and if we don't pour into it with every intention possible, we will continue to welcome out of state contractors to take our taxdollars across the stateline.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am mostly interested in establishing a transparent and fair foundation for County government. Every issue area after that can have an unbiased shot at getting passed.

Here are a few of the issues I highlight online:
-Property Tax Reform Plan
-Establishment of a Senior Services Fund
-Support for Working Families
-Access to Parks and Conservation
-Efficiency in our Government
-Promotion of Arts and Culture
-Efficient Regional Healthcare Pipeline
-Jackson County Nondiscrimination Act and Equity Policy

-Economic Development and Infrastructure Investment

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2021

Manny Abarca did not complete Ballotpedia's 2021 Candidate Connection survey.

2019

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Manny Abarca did not complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

2016

Abarca's campaign website highlighted the following issues:

Right to work

• Excerpt: "'Right to Work' DOES NOT create jobs, it creates non-livable wages. Missourians work too hard to lose union protection from unfair wages. I will stand up for worker rights, pensions, and benefits for a livable wage."

Medicaid expansion

• Excerpt: "I will stand up to eliminate barriers to health for the uninsured and under-served. Absent Medicaid expansion is leaving thousands of hard working residents behind and this is unacceptable."

Equitable public education

• Excerpt: "Good education is the foundation upon which future success is built, and all students, regardless of socio-economic background deserve this opportunity. I will fight to fully fund our public school system and ensure all Missouri students have the tools they need to succeed."

Public safety

• Excerpt: "I will support legislation that provides additional resources to dispatch and first responders, to ensure they can utilize their training to serve and protect our community. In addition, it is imperative that funding be allocated to the opening of a new regional, Independence area crime lab, for swift evidence processing and prosecution."

Infrastructure

• Excerpt: "I will work to protect the integrity of current state funding for infrastructure and work towards identifying new resources to address highway, major roadway and bridge work, as well as public transit, bicycle, and pedestrian needs across the state and in the Kansas City metro area."

See also

2022 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. Congress U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

Newsletters

The Heart of the Primaries The Daily Brew The Weekly Brew The Ballot Bulletin Checks and Balances Economy and Society Hall Pass Number of the Day Robe & Gavel Union Station

External links

Search Google News for this topic

Candidate

Jackson County Legislature District 1

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Personal

LinkedIn

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Scott Burnett	Jackson County Legislature District 1 2023-Present	Succeeded by -
Preceded by -	Kansas City Public Schools Board of Education Sub-district 3 2019-2022	Succeeded by Robert Sagastume