Skip to main content
Bill Bradbury, who served at the highest levels of the Oregon Legislature and later as Oregon’s secretary of state, died April 14 after a long battle with multiple sclerosis. He was 73.
In a statement, Bradbury’s family said he died while on a cruise around the world with his wife of 36 years, Katy Eymann.
Many of his Democratic allies mourned Bradbury’s passing. “In battling MS with his trademark relentless optimism, Bill showed all of us how to bring good cheer and relentless optimism to life’s many challenges,” U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said on Twitter. “He will be hugely missed.”
Bradbury overcame early tragedy (his parents both died in a Montana car crash when he was 9) to shape himself into the leader of a generation of Oregon Democrats defined by a strong environmental ethic. He served in the Legislature from 1981 to 1995, representing Coos County. He rose to become the president of the Senate, succeeding Gov. John Kitzhaber in the position. In 1999, when Secretary of State Phil Keisling stepped down, Kitzhaber appointed Bradbury to replace him. Bradbury then won election to that job twice, serving through January 2009.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) lauded Bradbury’s work in that role. “He was a trailblazer who oversaw Oregon’s transition to our safe and secure vote-by-mail election system for all elections—the first in the nation to do so—which has enabled Oregon to consistently achieve the highest voter turnout in the country,” Merkley said. “He also moved to make our elections more open and transparent by creating an online system for reporting campaign contributions.”
With an open governor’s seat in 2010, Bradbury decided to challenge Kitzhaber, who had previously served as governor from 1995 to 2003, for the Democratic nomination.
“Bradbury is a post-hippie enviro warrior and about as decent a guy as exists in Oregon politics,” WW wrote in its endorsement, while nonetheless backing Kitzhaber. “He’s popular with rank-and-file Dems for his willingness to show up any-where and anytime for the party. In January, the ‘happy warrior’ went door to door on his Segway scooter (it’s how he gets around due to the multiple sclerosis he’s battled since 1981) to help pass two statewide income-tax hikes while other party leaders—including Kitzhaber and Gov. Ted Kulongoski—kept a low profile.”
Bradbury came up short in that race, as he had done in previous bids for the U.S. House (Peter DeFazio squeaked past him by 1 percentage point in the 1986 Democratic primary) and U.S. Senate (incumbent U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith [R–Ore.] topped him by 18 points in 2002). But Bradbury was unbowed in defeat, spending much of his post-political career raising awareness of the threat climate change poses.
In 2022, when many establishment Democrats, including former Govs. Kitzhaber, Kulongoski and Barbara Roberts, declined to endorse the Democratic front-runner for governor, former House Speaker Tina Kotek (D-Portland), Bradbury stepped to the fore, offering an endorsement whose value reflected the goodwill he’d built with the party faithful through decades of campaigning around the state.
“She’s been a very strong and very effective speaker,” Bradbury told WW about Kotek in March 2022. “She’s shown over a long period of time that she can deliver on key Democratic priorities.”
On Friday, now-Gov. Kotek paid tribute to her late friend. “Secretary Bill Bradbury was a true warrior for the environment and a kind man of heart and humor,” Kotek said. “The first lady and I are thinking of Katy and the family during this difficult time.”