Missouri state conservative Republican Rep. Darin Chappell was selected by his caucus to be Missouri’s next House Majority Floor Leader. He’s Missouri native Chappell Roan’s uncle.
Chappell has been a staunch conservative in the Legislature and introduced bills to restrict abortion access.
Roan, who was born in Willard, Missouri, has been an advocate for reproductive freedom, and recently headlined fellow pop star Olivia Rodrigo’s festival to raise money for reproductive rights.
Chappell supported the recent failed amendment that would’ve cemented Missouri’s ban on gender affirming surgeries for minors and reinstated abortion restrictions despite the fact that Missourians enshrined the right to abortion into the constitution 2024.
Roan started the “Midwest Princess Project,” named after her 2023 debut studio album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” to invest in Missouri LGBTQ+ centers with a particular focus on LGBTQ+ youth. Some of the profit from her massive, sold-out Kansas City concerts at the National WWI Museum and Memorial helped fund the project.
Chappell won his seat with a narrower margin than in 2024, though he still earned 70% of the vote in Greene County, where Willard is located. Missouri Republicans lost 16 House seats this election, a historic loss for them.
Chappell told the Missouri Independent the GOP is in “a total reassessment.”
“If we need to change course on specific issues, we will,” he said. “We absolutely will.”
Roan has never directly addressed her conservative uncle’s role in Missouri politics, but told Rolling Stone “I have family that are very Republican, and they love me and I love them.”
Roan, whose legal name is Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, chose her stage name because of her late grandfather, Dennis K. Chappell. She’s maintained a relationship with her family despite their political differences, with her grandparents appearing in one of her music videos.
