House District 25

(Beaverton, Southwest Portland)

Ben Bowman

Democrat

Bowman, 32, won this seat in 2022 after redistricting shifted it north from Marion County. In so doing, he broke 20 years of Republican control of this district, which now includes bits of Tigard, Beaverton and Progress Ridge. A former policy analyst for the Oregon Department of Education, Bowman can boast of directing $150 million to early literacy programs, securing matching funds so that every kid in the state has access to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which sends books to school districts that need them. He proved so effective in his first term that his peers elected Bowman House majority leader. His Republican opponent, Bob Niemeyer, 70, is an inventor who claims over 30 patents (including a recent one for a diabetic lance) and is making his seventh bid for public office. He’s a sweet-natured and multitalented man with whom we disagree on nearly every issue.

A useful illustration of their differences can be found on Southwest Hall Boulevard, a dangerous road that Bowman helped wrest from the Oregon Department of Transportation and into local control, giving Tigard city officials the ability to slow traffic and install lighted crosswalks. Niemeyer came in opposing the changes because he hates the construction of apartment buildings along the road. Rarely do we get such a clear demonstration that one candidate is effective and the other is unserious. Vote Bowman.

What Bowman was known for in high school: “I was the leadership kid.” And he played soccer.

House District 26

(Hillsboro, Sherwood, King City, Tigard, Wilsonville)

Courtney Neron

Democrat

Neron, 45, is seeking a fourth term representing District 26, which extends from Wilsonville through Sherwood and into Tigard. A former teacher, Neron has focused on improving Oregon’s struggling schools. She currently chairs the House Committee on Education.

Of course, Oregon’s schools are not doing great. Less than a third of grade-school-aged kids test proficiently in math, and heightened absenteeism remains an unsolved problem. Predictably, Neron says schools need more money, and she’s hopes to make sure they get it. “I will not stop fighting for more education funding until kindergartners no longer have to bring their own crayons to learn,” she says.

Neron was panned as mediocre in our “Good, Bad and Awful” survey of Salem insiders. But voters aren’t being offered a tempting alternative. Neron’s opponent, Jason Fields, does have a sympathetic backstory. He grew up in foster care and now runs a business manufacturing auto parts and logging equipment. He lost to Neron two years ago, and his policy proposals remain questionable. To highlight one example: Raising more money for schools by eliminating environmental protection programs seems shortsighted. Vote Neron.

What Neron was known for in high school: She was voted most likely to always love Tigard High School.

House District 27

(Beaverton)

Ken Helm

Democrat

Helm, a land use lawyer who put his practice on hold when he entered the Legislature in 2015, is the kind of studious, no-drama lawmaker people often say they want. In practice, that often means passing useful legislation that few people notice.

For example: When we asked him for evidence that he could work across the aisle, Helm pointed to a $500 million package of water infrastructure funding he passed alongside his Republican vice chair on the House Committee on Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources, and Water, Rep. Mark Owens (R-Crane). Much of the value of that bill will accrue to red parts of Oregon, but Helm used his seniority and years of experience as a lawyer and lawmaker to negotiate compromises his colleagues could accept.

His Republican opponent, Victoria Kingsbury, a teacher, has raised less than $4,000. Bring back Helm.

What Helm was known for in high school: He was one of Oregon’s top pole vaulters.

House District 28

(Southwest Portland and parts of Washington County)

Dacia Grayber

Democrat

Grayber, a firefighter for Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, earned the highest marks of any House member in WW’s 2023 edition of “The Good, the Bad & the Awful.” The consensus: she’s “smart, tough and a quick learner.” As the chair of the House Committee on Emergency Management, General Government, and Veterans last year, she pushed through bills that stepped up inspections of dangerous workplaces and that expanded opportunities for retirees to return to work.

On the topic of retirement benefits, Grayber, 49, has been remarkably effective. She also led the passage of an expansion of benefits for public safety workers in the short 2024 session amid a jam-packed agenda. We and other news media pointed out problems with bill because it goes against the trend of trying to reduce the Public Employee Retirement System’s gaping deficit. We still think it was a giveaway to the public employee unions that form part of Grayber’s base, but there’s no denying her effectiveness and her ability to disagree without being disagreeable. As an example of her willingness to stand up to powerful interests, Grayber cites her “no” vote on Gov. Tina Kotek’s priority housing bill in 2023 (the bill ultimately failed in the Senate).

Her Republican opponent, retiree Charles Mengis, did not bother to create a political action committee or a campaign website.

What Grayber was known for in high school: She edited the literary magazine.

House District 31

(Columbia County)

Darcey Edwards

Republican

Scandals don’t get more pathetic than the one that felled Rep. Brian Stout (R-Columbia City), who allegedly tried to hush up an affair with a campaign staffer by threatening to push her off Multnomah Falls. That led to the unique sight of a sitting lawmaker asking a judge to remove a sexual abuse order against him—and failing. Stout is slinking away, and District 31, which runs north from Scappoose along the Columbia River, has a vacancy.

Into that gap steps Darcey Edwards, 55, a real estate agent who says her son’s descent into fentanyl addiction on the streets of Portland propelled her to run for office. Her family tragedy is terrible and all too common. Unfortunately, we found Edwards evasive, bordering on dishonest. She wouldn’t say who won the 2020 presidential election (she claims not to care), and she ineptly tried to deny that Stout had endorsed her—”not necessarily”—before admitting he had. Sadly, the days are long gone when a Democrat stood a chance in Columbia County, and the party’s nominee, tax consultant Jordan Gutierrez, is not running a serious campaign. His website pledges to fight “crimeflation,” and he didn’t bother to submit a statement to the Voter’s Pamphlet. Edwards is the best option the district will get.

What Edwards was known for in high school: “Talking too much.”

House District 33

(Northwest Portland)

Shannon Jones Isadore

Democrat

Since we last endorsed Shannon Jones Isadore for this seat in the May primary, she bested a crowded field to win the Democratic Party nomination. Last month, Multnomah and Washington county commissioners appointed her to finish the term of Rep. Maxine Dexter, who is running for Congress. That means Jones Isadore, 54, is now running as the incumbent to represent a district that runs the length of Forest Park through Northwest and Southwest Portland.

But the reason we’re endorsing her again is what else she accomplished during that time: In August, she secured city permits to open 50 recovery beds in Portland’s West End. Her drug and mental health nonprofit, Oregon Change Clinic, already operates 37 such beds in a former motel in the Lloyd District. Jones Isadore founded the clinic, which specializes in helping BIPOC people break free of addiction, after stints as a Marine and an investment broker.

We wish Jones Isadore could more clearly describe her road map for counties “deflecting” people from jail who are arrested with drugs in the post-Measure 110 era. But Oregon has a citizen legislature so that those with concrete achievements can set policy—and nobody’s experience is as needed in Salem as hers.

Jones Isadore has two opponents this fall. The Republican aspirant, Stan Baumhofer, 96, is a retired savings-and-loan officer who hails from a different (and better) era of his party; he worked for former Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer and Secretary of State Norma Paulus. But he concedes he’s only running to keep Jones Isadore honest. A more spirited challenge comes from Tom Busse, a Libertarian who describes himself as a disaffected Democrat. His critiques of the party power structure don’t convince us he’d get much done. Jones Isadore is the clear choice.

What Jones Isadore was known for in high school: She was in ROTC.

House District 34

(Washington County)

Lisa Reynolds

Democrat

With the departures of former state Rep. Maxine Dexter (who resigned to run for U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer’s seat) and Sen. Elizabeth Steiner (she’s running for state treasurer), Reynolds, a pediatrician, is seeking to be the only medical doctor serving in the Legislature.

In her two terms so far, Reynolds has earned high marks in our Good, Bad & Awful survey of lawmakers. She has notched big wins on childhood poverty (passing a bill that created a new tax credit for low-income families with children) and gun safety (her bill banned ghost guns).

Reynolds chairs the House Committee on Early Childhood and Human Services and brings a fact-based, no-nonsense approach to legislating that is a breath of fresh air in a Capitol too often characterized by legislating by anecdote and lawmakers doing lobbyists’ bidding. She struggled most last session over a bill that pitted her love for her brother, who suffers from schizophrenia, and her colleagues in health care who wanted her vote on a bill that would criminalize assaults on health care workers. After a lot of tears, Reynolds says, she voted yes.

Her opponent, Republican John Verbeek, is a perennial candidate running on a cookie-cutter Republican platform. Pick Reynolds.

What Reynolds was known for in high school: “I was a diligent nerd.”

House District 35

(Beaverton, Aloha)

Farrah Chaichi

Democrat

Chaichi has served one term representing District 35, which fans out from downtown Beaverton across Aloha. It was a memorable two years, punctuated by her lonely vote against recriminalizing fentanyl. (This was a different bill than the one gutting Measure 110—it singled out the synthetic opioid that has fueled a wave of overdoses. Chaichi, alone among her colleagues, maintained her opposition to even a trace of the war on drugs.)

If there were a position to the left of Chaichi, a 39-year-old part-time intake coordinator for Stoel Rives, it would dwell in the Pacific Ocean. (Even her success story of the last session—a bill that requires Oregon’s Public Employee Retirement System to divest from thermal coal investments—is something she says doesn’t go far enough.) A starry-eyed idealist, she would in the next session reintroduce a bill that would allow cities to impose rent control protections without having to abide by state rent control regulations.

While we think Chaichi is too extreme on a number of issues, we’ll give her this: She doesn’t play politics, or water down her positions to give her party a tactical advantage. Lucky for her, her Republican opponent, homebuilder Dan Martin, is the incredible shrinking candidate: When he ran against Chaichi two years ago, he couldn’t name anybody endorsing him, and this time he didn’t even submit information for the Voters’ Pamphlet. Chaichi it is.

What Chaichi was known for in high school: Rowing for Beaverton High School’s crew team and behaving herself.

House District 36

(Hillsboro and Beaverton)

Hai Pham

Democrat

In 2022, Hai Pham, a dentist and cancer survivor, ran to represent this district of suburbs and farmland running south from Hillsboro. At the time, he ran on a platform of fixing Oregon’s broken medical system. Two years later, the system’s still a mess. But Pham, 45, can take credit for doing his small part to fix it: He pushed through a bill last year expanding insurance coverage for kids’ hearing aids and cochlear implants.

Pham’s a smart guy, who got top marks in brains and integrity in our annual informal poll of Capitol insiders. His heart is in the right place, and he’s got the tools to make a mark in Salem. So far, he’s still in the relationship-building stage.

His opponent, Shawn Chummar, runs a logistics company delivering Amazon packages, and is campaigning on a promise to fix the state’s poorly performing schools. But he doesn’t have the relevant experience to tackle that problem. We’ll stick with Pham.

What Pham was known for in high school: He was the dorky wrestler.

House District 37

(West Linn and Tualatin)

Jules Walters

Democrat

In her first full session, Walters, 53, the former mayor of West Linn, was an advocate for expanding coverage for gender affirmation treatment, part of House Bill 2002. She has also been an outspoken critic of the Oregon Department of Transportation’s hopes to toll Interstate 205, a prospect that’s anathema to her district. And, like a few of her colleagues, she voted against Gov. Tina Kotek’s 2023 housing bill, which narrowly failed.

In our biennial legislative rankings, she earned an Average rating, in part because she’s hard to read. (Lobbyists wondered if she was cagey or merely empty.) If she comes back for a second term, we’d like to see the passion and intensity that Walters showed in a widely circulated clip of her telling some fellow West Linn City Council members to “shut up” and “fuck off” at a 2020 Zoom meeting when they insisted on allowing a homophobic resident to address the council.

Her Republican opponent is political consultant Ben Edtl, 46. He brings the energy of ESPN host Pat McAfee after a five-espresso lunch, but he’s all heat and no light. Taxes are bad, we get it. Bring Walters back.

What Walters was known for in high school: Winning news quizzes.

House District 39

(Happy Valley, outer Southeast Portland)

April Dobson

Democrat

For four terms, Happy Valley and its environs have been represented by Rep. Janelle Bynum, who is giving up the seat to challenge incumbent Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.) in U.S. House District 5. Bynum has been a pragmatic, effective legislator focused on education and criminal justice.

Eager to leave her seat in good hands, Bynum asked April Dobson to run for it. The two met when Dobson and three like-minded candidates ran for the North Clackamas School Board against a group backed by the book-banning Oregon Moms Union. Bynum helped with the race and, afterward, encouraged Dobson to set her sights higher.

Dobson, 48, is a political newcomer who got involved in education in part because one of her three children is on the autism spectrum. She’s a lifelong Oregonian with a degree from the University of Oregon. After living in Los Angeles, where she fought to reopen libraries that had been closed to cut costs, she and her husband moved back to take care of their elderly parents. We were impressed with Dobson’s command of the issues, especially education.

Dobson’s opponent, Republican Aimee Reiner, is a gay veteran who also has a neurodivergent child, and also ran for the North Clackamas School Board but lost. Among her backers were the Clackamas County Republicans, who included her in a slate of candidates committed to eliminating “comprehensive sex education,” banning “clubs that promote sex” and removing critical race theory from curriculums.

We see Trumpism lurking there, giving us even more enthusiasm for Dobson.

What Dobson was known for in high school: She was adventurous and eclectic, in part because her mother, Madelynne Sheehan, wrote Fishing in Oregon, widely considered the definitive work on the subject.

House District 40

(Oregon City, Gladstone)

Annessa Hartman

Democrat

Hartman, 36, is wrapping up her first term representing District 40, which covers Oregon City, Gladstone and a large swatch of unincorporated Clackamas County. She’s a member of the Cayuga Nation and worked in the catering industry before it was undercut by the pandemic.

In her rookie year, Hartman received solid marks in our survey of Capitol insiders. She was among the leading Democratic voices opposing the state’s plans to toll Interstate 205, which slashes straight through Hartman’s district. “I heard loud and clear from my district we needed to stop tolling—and we did just that,” she says. Gov. Tina Kotek put the plan on hold earlier this year. Hartman says she’s willing to support a future proposal, as long as it mitigates her constituents’ concerns that drivers will simply divert onto local streets.

Hartman says she has over 30 ideas in the works, but singles out an effort to hold domestic abusers accountable as one of particular importance.

Her Republican opponent, Michael Newgard, is a helicopter pilot and Clackamas County bureaucrat. He’s running on a platform of cracking down on “crime and vagrancy” and limiting property tax increases. We think Hartman, one of the most promising young lawmakers in Salem, is the superior choice.

What Hartman was known for in high school: A three-sport athlete, Hartman brought to WW’s offices a campaign shirt she designed while running (successfully) for senior class president.

House District 41

(Milwaukie, Sellwood)

Mark Gamba

Democrat

When Mark Gamba arrived in Salem for his first session in 2023, he came with a decade’s worth of experience as a member of the Milwaukie planning commission and as mayor. He’d been part of that city’s infill and expansion as people sought a more affordable close-in suburb, and helped shape housing legislation that would push new development toward greater density, rather than McMansions.

He’s a bulwark of his caucus’s left wing, pushing for the decarbonization of the state’s pension fund and a faster transition to green energy. A former photographer for National Geographic, where he shot some of the world’s most beautiful and endangered places, Gamba, 65, brings a zeal to his work in Salem. (He arrived at our Northwest Portland office on an e-bike, having ridden from Milwaukie on a rainy day.) Gamba’s example of standing up to power: He defied Gov. Tina Kotek and his caucus leadership by voting against the recriminalization of drugs.

His GOP opponent, Elvis Clark, 70, is a genial retired utility economist who peppers his encyclopedic campaign website with climate data, fish counts, and quotes from Elon Musk, Denzel Washington, and Seinfeld’s George Constanza (“it’s not a lie if you believe it”). He can’t match Gamba’s energy—the incumbent already filed 33 bill concepts for next year—or his fit with the overwhelmingly blue district.

What Gamba was known for in high school: Nicknamed “Flash,” he took all the yearbook photos.

House District 43

(Northeast Portland)

Tawna Sanchez

Democrat

Rep. Tawna Sanchez has the luxury of representing one of the most liberal House districts in Oregon. The 43rd covers Northeast Portland’s Lloyd District and Albina, Irvington and Alberta neighborhoods.

Sanchez, 63, a four-term incumbent and co-chair of the powerful Joint Ways and Means Committee, has no real competition for her seat.

Her Republican opponent, Tim LeMaster, 51, is a retired Marine who leans Libertarian and has been reading The Federalist Papers. He admits he can’t win and has raised no money. Sanchez is so confident she’s not knocking on doors in her district but is instead canvassing for other candidates.

Despite her assured win, Sanchez was cagey on some key issues. Does the alcohol lobby, which has kept taxes on spirits unchanged for a generation, have Democrats in a headlock? “They might,” Sanchez says. Can you point to a state that is providing mental health services in a more effective way than Oregon? “I don’t have that off the top of my head.”

The latter response is especially concerning because Sanchez, a trained social worker, is director of family services at the Native American Youth and Family Center.

Nor would Sanchez, whose committee controls the state’s purse strings, say what she might cut in what promises to be a tough budget year in Salem. Sanchez did grudgingly describe a plan to raise taxes on beer and wine for the first time since 1977 and 1983, respectively, and use the proceeds for alcohol abuse prevention, intervention and recovery services for anyone under the age of 21.

We’re willing to bet that Sanchez knows more than she lets on. Why go out on a limb in front of a bunch of journalists and a long-shot right-wing opponent? And we look forward to seeing if she can do the impossible with taxes on beer and wine.

What Sanchez was known for in high school: She was a “political maniac” who protested nuclear power.

House District 46

(Southeast Portland)

Willy Chotzen

Democrat

Rep. Khanh Pham, who’s represented this district since 2021, is off to the Senate, leaving big shoes to fill in this Southeast Portland district, which stretches from Mount Tabor to Lents.

Willy Chotzen, 33, emerged victorious in the Democratic primary this year, beating out a worthy competitor in Mary Lou Hennrich. That’s understandable. Chotzen is well acquainted with the state’s biggest problems. He’s a public defender, representing the people who suffer the most from the state’s lack of housing and behavioral health care.

But he’s got enough perspective to recognize that these wouldn’t be the first issues he’d be asked to tackle as a freshman lawmaker.

Instead, he wants to improve the court system and early child care. (He once worked as a middle school math teacher.) The state’s court systems, stretched to their breaking point by the pandemic and fentanyl epidemic, are badly in need of systemic repair. Chotzen wants more concrete timelines to speed things up. “There’s a ton of waste and inefficiency in the system,” he explains. “This is one of those kinds of things that should be bipartisan.”

Another bonus: There are lawyers in the halls of power in Salem, but no public defenders. Chotzen brings a welcome new perspective to a state that has left its indigent defense system underfunded and largely ignored for years.

The Republican challenger in this race, John Mark Alexander, a substitute teacher, is a recent California transplant who lacks familiarity with the district. The two minor-party candidates, Libertarian Austin Daniel and Independent Kevin Levy, both exhibited an admirable willingness to tackle big issues but failed to offer practical solutions. Vote Chotzen.

What Chotzen was known for in high school: He was named most-improved player on his junior varsity basketball team—every year.

House District 48

(Outer Southeast Portland and parts of Clackamas County)

Hoa Nguyen

Democrat

Nguyen, 38, who also serves on the David Douglas School Board and works as a student and community engagement specialist at the Clackamas Education Service District, narrowly won this seat in 2022. She faces the same opponent again, Republican John Masterman, who runs a one-man transmission shop.

Nguyen has yet to distinguish herself in Salem, where she serves on the House Education Committee, but the variety of ways in which she overlaps with her community (she was also formerly a truancy officer for Portland Public Schools) and her commitment to public service make her the easy pick here.

Masterman, 54, says his only civic engagement is raising his two daughters, but then after complaining about the negative impacts of the Student Success Act (a 2019 law that helps fund K-12 education), he acknowledged that he sends his kids to private school. No shame in that, but Nguyen’s firsthand exposure to one of Oregon’s biggest challenges—improving school attendance and results—as well as one of its largest budget items gives her the edge.

What Nguyen was known for in high school: She started a multicultural club.

House District 49

(Troutdale, Parkrose and Gresham)

Zach Hudson

Democrat

When you catch a show at Edgefield or haul an inner tube to the Sandy River, you’re in the legislative district represented by two-term state Rep. Zach Hudson. A special education teacher, Hudson, 45, received middling marks in our survey of Salem insiders—people in the Capitol found him sweet-natured and eccentric.

We have reservations about Hudson’s priorities and his independence. He’s proudest of his work passing House Bill 4045, which increased retirement benefits for district attorneys, 911 operators, and Oregon State Hospital staff—a partial reversal of the cuts public-sector union members took in 2019.

The new perks may help with employee retention, but they increase an unfunded liability and send a dismal signal to voters about who lawmakers serve. Hudson’s attempt to identify a place where he’d broken ranks from organized labor was comically weak (he pointed to his opposition to a bill he never had to vote on, and said he now supports its underlying concept).

But give him this: Hudson stood up to Legacy Health when it tried to shutter the hospital in his district, Mount Hood Medical Center in Gresham. He advocated for patients with the Oregon Health Authority, which blocked Legacy’s plan, and he then drafted a bill requiring closer scrutiny of who stands to lose when a hospital closes. (It didn’t get traction in the House, but OHA later adopted Hudson’s idea in rulemaking.)

Can the voters of Fairview and Troutdale do better? Probably not with Hudson’s opponent, Terry Tipsord, a business analyst, Mt. Hood Community College instructor, and pastor. Tipsord, 72, seems like a nice guy and an involved citizen, but he’s running on a platform of banalities. While we’d like to see someone force Hudson to up his game, he has shown tangible results for his district. We’ll stick with him.

What Hudson was known for in high school: “During a cross-country practice once, a teammate said to me: ‘Zach, you’re the nerdiest jock I know.’ I played in an Irish folk band.”

House District 50

(Gresham)

Ricki Ruiz

Democrat

Ruiz didn’t grow up in the Capitol—it just seems that way. He was elected to the House at just 26, after serving on the David Douglas School Board. Now 30, he remains the youngest House member, but is proving more adept at the job than we expected when we first endorsed him four years ago to represent the borderlands of Gresham and East Portland. Our survey of lobbyists suggests he might be the best-liked lawmaker in Salem.

In the past session, he secured $2 million in state funding to launch a youth violence prevention program for Gresham City Hall—and a part of the metro area ravaged by pandemic-era shootings has seen crime decline. Still, this district is no Democratic stronghold, and Ruiz can expect a real challenge from Paul Drechsler, a landscaping supply business owner campaigning on lowering the cost of living, in part by cutting red tape around housing construction. But he lacks specifics in those laudable goals. Vote for Ruiz.

What Ruiz was known for in high school: “Honestly, absolutely nothing. I was a very introverted person.”

House District 52

(Hood River, Cascade Locks, Sandy, parts of Gresham)

Jeff Helfrich

Republican

There are a couple of reasons to hope partisan rancor in Salem is trending downward. The biggest: Courts upheld a 2022 ballot measure that prevents lawmakers from extended walkouts. Another key reason: new legislative leadership.

Senate President Rob Wagner (D-Lake Oswego) presided over his first term in 2023 and House Speaker Julie Fahey (D-Eugene) did so in 2024. That neither is a Portlander eases chronic resentment of the state’s largest city. Similarly, House Minority Leader Jeff Helfrich (R-Hood River) spent 25 years as a Portland cop, so while he leads a mostly rural caucus, he’s conversant with Portland and, perhaps more importantly, represents a district in which Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly 6 percentage points. That’s a powerful incentive for his moderation.

For the past two years, Helfrich, 56, worked closely with Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Portland) to pass a large housing package and, in 2024, cooperated with Democratic leadership to recriminalize hard drugs and to pass meaningful campaign finance reforms. He is a pragmatist who gets things done.

Democratic challenger Nick Walden Poublon, 44, worked in student health at Portland State University for a decade before becoming a drug and alcohol abuse prevention specialist in Sandy. He brings a compelling life story—he grew up on a dairy farm in Harrisburg, Ore., and got into health care after a screening exam at PSU revealed a tumor—but he failed to make a convincing case that voters should dump an effective incumbent.

What Helfrich was known for in high school: Wrestling and football.