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Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek (D-Portland) will deliver a speech at next week's Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
"It's very exciting," Kotek tells WW. "It's an honor for me. It's a real honor for Oregon."
Kotek will speak on the main convention stage on Monday, July 25, the first night of the convention.
She'll join two other Democratic leaders from state legislatures—California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León and Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams—to discuss passing a liberal platform at the state level.
"We are really pleased that Oregon is going to be highlighted," Kotek says. "We've been leading the nation on progressive policies: minimum wage, paid sick leave, statewide ban the box, New Moter Voter, and all the great work we're doing to increase access to reproductive health care."
Kotek, 49, was reelected in May to her sixth term representing her North Portland legislative district. She has served as Oregon House speaker for two terms, and has played an instrumental role in passing a historic minimum-wage increase, family medical leave, and the automatic registration of Oregon voters.
Nearly all of those Made-in-Oregon policies have been added this spring to the platform of the presumptive Democratic Party nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Kotek, who is vice chair of the national Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, says she's pleased to get three minutes to spotlight Oregon's lawmaking successes.
"The message next week," she says, "is state policies really do matter."
Willamette Week