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Dr. Brian Duty, a surgeon and urologist at Oregon Health & Science University, announced his candidacy today for the Democratic nomination in House District 33, the close-in, mostly Northwest Portland district currently represented by state Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Portland).
Dexter, a pulmonologist, is giving up her seat to seek the Democratic nomination for Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District, from which longtime U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) is retiring.
The House District 33 seat has been a stronghold of medical experts in recent decades. Late former Rep. Mitch Greenlick, a professor of public health at OHSU, held the seat for 18 years prior to his death in 2020 and chaired the House Committee on Health Care for much of his career.
Now, Duty, 46, a Portland native who graduated from Willamette University and earned his medical degree at OHSU, and later picked up an MBA in health care management, will try to succeed Dexter.
He will run with the support of another doctor-turned-policymaker. “Oregon is at its best when we create a clear vision for the future and concrete steps to get us there,” former Gov. John Kitzhaber, an emergency room physician, said. “I have known Dr. Duty for years, and I believe that is exactly the approach he will bring to the Legislature and he has my enthusiastic endorsement.”