[1] In the summer of 2018, Pappas was nominated by the local Democratic organizations in the district to run against the then-unopposed Republican incumbent Christine Winger.

[5] Pappas represented Illinois 45th district, which at the time was located in northern DuPage County and included all or parts of Addison, Bartlett, Bloomingdale, Carol Stream, Hanover Park, Itasca, Medinah, Roselle, Wayne, West Chicago, and Wood Dale.

[11] Dan Proft's conservative political publications and Republican legislators Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) and Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) criticized Pappas for an alleged remark that invoked castration when speaking about female autonomy at a town hall.

[14] Pappas supported Senate Bill 1217, which lowered the amount of money that municipalities are required to devote to tourism from the hotel/motel tax from 100% to 75%.

[15] The change had been long sought by local leaders in smaller towns to fund economic development efforts and infrastructure improvements.