State Senator Jenny Oropeza dies from blood clot complication

State Senator Jenny Oropeza has died from complications of a blood clot in her abdomen. The 53-year-old Redondo Beach Democrat represented Long Beach and the South Bay.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered Capitol flags to be flown at half-staff to honor Sen. Oropeza.

As the state Senate voted on this year’s budget, the legislative clerk called out Oropeza’s name in every roll call on every one of the dozens of budget bills. The silence that followed underlined the seriousness of the illness that kept the senator from casting her vote in Sacramento.

President Pro Tem Darrel Steinberg says he knew the gravity of Oropeza’s illness, but fully expected her to return to work.

"She had a lot left, y’ know. And she struggled, I mean fought so hard you know. She’d been sick for a long time but we really hoped that she would get better," Steinberg says.

The Redondo Beach Democrat was first elected to the legislature in 2000 where she and Steinberg worked together. Four years later, doctors diagnosed her with liver cancer. She had surgery — and was declared “cancer free” in 2005.

Steinberg says Oropeza’s battle with cancer inspired her to push for bills to reduce toxins and pollutants in the L.A. and Long Beach ports. She also tried — unsuccessfully — to ban smoking at state beaches.

"She was a champion for health care and cancer prevention and a living witness as to what people go through and was adamant that we look at the link between the environment and cancer and of course cigarette smoking."

In May, Oropeza developed a blood clot in her stomach and went on sick leave. Earlier this month she said she was recovering from the condition, but the senator’s chief of staff Ray Sotero says a complication from the blood clot caused fluid to build up in Oropeza’s lungs.

She was hospitalized Wednesday for shortness of breath and died later that night.

Oropeza’s name remains on the ballot on November 2nd. If she wins, the governor will call a special election.