Capitol Weekly’s Top 100: Steve O’Mara

No. 49 Steve O’Mara

There are behind the scenes players and then there are behind the scenes players like Steve O’Mara, Chief of Staff to Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas. It’s unlikely Rivas listens to anyone more than his brother Rick (No. 16 on this list) but O’Mara is a close second. That’s a good thing because with the steady inflow of new members – some of whom can be as needy as a newborn – someone other than his brother needs to be a buffer between them and the Speaker. On that front, O’Mara is another respected coalition builder both in the Speaker’s office and throughout the Democratic Caucus, and it is a given that the big things all eventually go through O’Mara before they get to Rivas. (Robert, that is.) While the Speaker’s office can at times seem like the Titanic approaching an iceberg, O’Mara is lauded for always being the calm, cool and collected helmsman that gets this ship into dock safely.

Updated August 11, 2026