John Albert Kitzhaber is an American former politician and physician who served as the 35th and 37th governor of Oregon from 1995 to 2003 and again from 2011 to 2015. In February 2015, shortly after beginning his fourth term, Kitzhaber resigned from office and was replaced by Secretary of State Kate Brown. A member of the Democratic Party, Kitzhaber was the longest-serving governor in the state's history.
The Oregon Republican Party is the state affiliate of the United States Republican Party in Oregon, headquartered in Salem. The party was established in the Oregon Territory in February 1857 as the "Free State Republican Party of Oregon" and held its first state convention on April 1, 1859, after Oregon achieved statehood.
Gordon Harold Smith is an American politician, businessman, and academic administrator who served as a United States Senator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served two terms in the Senate from 1997 to 2009. On September 18, 2009, he was appointed president of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). As of 2024, he is the last Republican to represent Oregon in the U.S. Senate.
The Oregon State Senate is the upper house of the statewide legislature for the US state of Oregon. Along with the lower chamber Oregon House of Representatives it makes up the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 30 members of the state Senate, representing 30 districts across the state, each with a population of 141,242. The state Senate meets in the east wing of the Oregon State Capitol in Salem.
Jeffrey Alan Merkley is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Oregon since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, he served from 1999 to 2009 as the representative for the 47th district in the Oregon House of Representatives, which covers central Multnomah County on the eastern side of Portland; he was the speaker of the House during the last two years of his tenure.
Jackie Winters was an American Republican politician in the U.S. state of Oregon. She served as a state senator, representing the 10th district in Salem. She was Senate Minority Leader. She died of lung cancer on May 29, 2019.
Floyd Prozanski is an American Democratic politician who is a current member of the Oregon State Senate, representing the 4th District, since 2004. He previously served in the Oregon House of Representatives, from 1995 through 2000 and again for the 2003 session. He resigned from the House in December 2003 to accept appointment to the Senate seat that had been vacated by Tony Corcoran. He won election to the seat in November 2004.
Brad Peter Avakian is an American politician who served as a Democrat in the Oregon House, the Oregon Senate, and as the state's nonpartisan elected Labor Commissioner.
Sara Gelser Blouin is an American politician from Oregon. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
Bruce Hanna is a Republican politician from Roseburg in the U.S. state of Oregon. He served in the Oregon House of Representatives, representing District 7, which spans Lane and Douglas counties. He was the co-speaker of the House for the 2011–2012 session along with Democrat Arnie Roblan.
Cliff Stewart Bentz is an American lawyer, rancher, and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Oregon's 2nd congressional district. A member of the Republican Party, he is the ranking member on the House Natural Resources Committee Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife and sits on the House Judiciary Committee. He previously served in the Oregon Senate, representing the 30th district in Eastern Oregon. He also served in the Oregon House of Representatives, representing the 60th district, which encompasses Malheur, Baker, Harney, and Grant counties, and part of Lake County, and includes the cities of Baker City, Burns, and Ontario.
Betsy L. Close is a Republican politician who served in the Oregon State Senate. Close was sworn into office in October 2012, replacing Frank Morse, who retired before his term ended. Prior to serving as Senator, Close served four terms as state representative and taught in Albany, Oregon, and Washington state.
Elizabeth Steiner, also known as Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, is a Democratic member of the Oregon Senate, representing the 17th district. Steiner was appointed to the Senate in 2011 by commissioners from Multnomah and Washington counties following the resignation of her predecessor, Suzanne Bonamici.
Tim Knopp is an American Republican politician from Oregon. He is a member of the Oregon State Senate and served as the senate minority leader from 2021 to 2024. He previously served as a member of the Oregon House of Representatives from 1999 to 2005.
Knute Carl Buehler is an American physician and politician who served as the Oregon State Representative for the 54th district from 2015 until January 2019. He was the Republican nominee for Governor of Oregon in the 2018 election, losing to incumbent Democrat Kate Brown. In 2021, he stated that he had left the Republican Party, citing the state party's response to the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol as his primary motivation. Buehler is no longer registered with any political party.
Dallas Heard is an American politician. He served as a Republican member of the Oregon Senate from 2018 to 2023. Heard had previously served as a member of the Oregon House of Representatives from District 2 from 2015 until 2018.
Jeanne Paquette Atkins is an American politician who was the 25th Secretary of State of Oregon, having been appointed on March 6, 2015, by Governor Kate Brown following Brown's ascension to the state's highest office. Atkins is a member of the Democratic Party. She did not run for a full term as Secretary of State and later became state Democratic Party chair.
The 2018 Oregon gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 2018, to elect the governor of Oregon to serve a full four-year term. In the 2016 special election, Democratic governor Kate Brown had been elected to serve the last two years of John Kitzhaber's term.
Mark Allen Callahan is an American information technology consultant and perennial candidate. He was the Republican nominee in the 2016 United States Senate election in Oregon.
The 2017–18 United States political sexual scandals saw a heightened period of allegations of sexual misconduct, harassment and assault, and resulted in the subsequent firings and resignations of American politicians. Some of the allegations are linked to the aftermath of the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse cases starting in October 2017 amid the wider MeToo movement.
