Kendra Suzanne Horn is an American attorney and politician serving as the U.S. Representative for Oklahoma's 5th congressional district since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, her district includes almost all of Oklahoma City. She defeated two-term incumbent RepublicanSteve Russell in the 2018 election. Horn is the first Democrat to represent the state's 5th congressional district in 44 years and the first Oklahoma Democrat elected to Congress in eight years. She is also the third woman elected to Congress from Oklahoma, after Alice Robertson and Mary Fallin, and the first Democratic woman elected to the House from Oklahoma.
Kendra Horn worked in private practice as a lawyer at a small firm in Dallas, Texas before opening a solo practice in 2002. Horn was hired on as press secretary to United States CongressmanBrad Carson from 2004 to 2005. She went on to work for the Space Foundation first as Manager of Government Affairs at their D.C. office and later as the Manager of Communication and Media Relations until 2008. She managed the gubernatorial campaign of Joe Dorman in 2014. She has worked as a strategic consultant with Amatra, a communication technology firm, since 2009. She is one of the founders of Women Lead Oklahoma, a nonpartisan nonprofit that trains and supports women to encourage community and civic action.
On July 3, 2017, Horn announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for United States House of Representatives to Oklahoma's fifth congressional district. After receiving 44% of the vote in the Democratic primary on June 26, 2018, Horn and primary opponent Tom Guild advanced to the primary runoff. During the August 28 primary, Horn received 76% of the vote, easily defeating Tom Guild and becoming the Democratic nominee. Horn defeated Republican Steve Russell in the November 6general election with 50.7% to his 49.3% of the vote, in what was widely considered one of the biggest upset victories of the cycle. Nearly every major rating organization believed Russell would win, and FiveThirtyEight only gave Horn a seven percent chance of winning. Ultimately, Horn won by defeating Russell in Oklahoma County, home to three-fourths of the district's population, by 9,900 votes, more than three times the overall margin of 3,300 votes. When Horn took office, she became the first Democrat to represent the district since John Jarman in 1974, who switched parties to become a Republican midway through what would be his final term.
Tenure
On January 3, 2019, the first day of the 116th United States Congress, Congresswoman Horn joined 219 other Democrats to support Nancy Pelosi in the chamber-wide election for Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. When explaining her decision to support Pelosi, Horn mentioned that the Democratic and Republican nominees were Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy, respectively, and said that Pelosi's support for improving health care, strengthening Medicare and Social Security, and supporting public education aligned with her successful campaign platform in the 2018 election and therefore with her goals in Congress. The admission of Horn to the New Democrat Coalition was announced on January 23. On January 29, Horn announced she was joining the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderate and conservative Democrats. On December 18, 2019, Horn voted for both articles of impeachment against President Trump.
