Democratic Leadership

Governor Tina Kotek began her public service career as a policy advocate for Oregon Food Bank, working to eliminate hunger for every Oregonian. She went on to serve as the policy director for Children First for Oregon, and stepped up to run for the Oregon House of Representatives to do more to help working families. She was first elected to represent North Portland in 2006.

In 2013, she became the first openly lesbian speaker of any state house in the nation. Then-Speaker Kotek worked tirelessly to respond to the immediate crises facing Oregonians — delivering pandemic relief, funding wildfire recovery, protecting renters from eviction, making historic investments to increase affordable housing construction, passing a first-in-the-nation statewide rent stabilization law and advocating for more equitable policing and a fairer criminal justice system. When she left office in January 2022, she was the longest serving Speaker of the House in Oregon history.

She was elected governor on November 8, 2022, and sworn in as Oregon’s 39th governor on January 9, 2023. Governor Kotek and her wife Aimee Kotek Wilson, a social worker, have been together for 19 years and have two dogs.

As Oregon’s State Treasurer since 2017, Treasurer Read has been a responsible and effective steward of Oregon’s finances, managing assets of over $130 billion, including funds safeguarding Oregon’s retirement, workers’ compensation, and schools.  He has championed programs making Oregon a good financial partner to families, providing tools they need to get ahead. These include helping Oregon families save for education and job training after high school through the Oregon College Savings Plan; and OregonSaves, a program he sponsored and passed as a legislator.  This first-of-its-kind retirement savings plan gives everyone the ability to save for the future and retire with security and dignity, even if their employer does not provide options.

Treasurer Read has earned a reputation for translating Oregonians’ values and priorities into real world results, while keeping a sharp focus on what will make the greatest impact for the future of Oregonians and the communities where they live and work.

Ellen Rosenblum was first elected in November 2012 and she is currently serving her third and final term as the first woman to serve as Oregon’s Attorney General. In this role, each of her three terms has been marked with accomplishments as the People’s Attorney for all, including our most vulnerable Oregonians.

In her first term, she won same-sex marriage rights for Oregon before it became federal law; in her second term, along with her Democratic AG colleagues, she pushed back against all manner of Trump administration environmental rule rollbacks and actions harmful to pregnant people, students and immigrants and refugees. They won nearly all of the 50 or so lawsuits they filed.

Now, she is fighting hard to keep Oregon strong for reproductive, elder, climate and criminal justice, championing consumer privacy, gun safety and labor trafficking at the last legislative session, and bringing hundreds of millions of dollars to the state in consumer, opioid and environmental settlements. During her tenure she has stood up a nationally recognized hate crimes and bias incident hotline, a reproductive rights hotline, an elder abuse unit and resource prosecutors throughout the state to help law enforcement and provide for the public’s safety. ​​

Christina Stephenson is Oregon’s 11th Labor Commissioner. Born and raised in rural Oregon, her work ethic was formed by watching her parents grow and sustain a small business for several decades. Christina went on to own and operate her own business – a law practice where she represented workers who have experienced discrimination or harassment in the workplace and helped businesses comply with Oregon’s workplace laws.

Now, her mission is to ensure Oregon workers have access to their civil rights and that Oregon businesses have access to the skilled workforce they need. In her spare time, Christina enjoys hiking, spending time with family and friends, and volunteering at local organizations.

Christina Stephenson is Oregon’s 11th Labor Commissioner. Born and raised in rural Oregon, her work ethic was formed by watching her parents grow and sustain a small business for several decades. Christina went on to own and operate her own business – a law practice where she represented workers who have experienced discrimination or harassment in the workplace and helped businesses comply with Oregon’s workplace laws.

Now, her mission is to ensure Oregon workers have access to their civil rights and that Oregon businesses have access to the skilled workforce they need. In her spare time, Christina enjoys hiking, spending time with family and friends, and volunteering at local organizations.

Senate President Rob Wagner represents Senate District 19 (Tualatin, Lake Oswego, West Linn, Rivergrove, Durham, SW Portland) and serves as Oregon’s 56th Senate President.

He received his bachelor’s degree from Portland State University and his master’s degree in public policy from George Washington University. His introduction to the Oregon Legislature was as a legislative aide in the House of Representatives in the 1990s. This led him to a position with American Federation of Teachers Oregon, where he advocated for teachers, faculty, healthcare workers and academic support professionals. He went on to become the Associate Vice President of College Advancement for Portland Community College.

As Senate President, he championed historic reinvestments in Oregon’s higher education system and ensured that the Senate delivered on legislation for affordable housing, reproductive freedom, and sensible gun safety.

Julie Fahey is the Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives. She was first elected to the legislature in 2016 and represents House District 14 (West Eugene, Veneta). During her time in the legislature, she has worked on major pieces of legislation, including 2023’s Affordable Housing and Emergency Homelessness Response Package, 2017’s Reproductive Health Equity Act which protected access to abortion, and 2019’s Student Success Act which made a major investment in our students and our schools. Before entering the legislature, she worked as a consultant for businesses and nonprofits on workforce issues and served as the Treasurer of the Democratic Party of Oregon and the Chair of the Democratic Party of Lane County.

Ben Bowman is a 7th generation Oregonian with deep roots in the region and communities he represents. His parents were involved members of the community, his mom was a high school English teacher and his dad worked for the postal service. This upbringing showed him the importance of working at the community level to improve lives and neighborhoods. After graduating from Tualatin High School, Ben earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon, and later his master’s degree in education policy from Stanford University.

In 2019, he was elected to the Tigard-Tualatin School Board. He served as Vice Chair in 2020 and as Chair in 2021. During his time on the board, he helped move the Tigard-Tualatin School District (TTSD) forward in supporting students’ social, emotional, and mental health needs as well as enhancing educational equity and academic achievement. Whether eliminating extracurricular pay-to-play fees or establishing TTSD’s first-ever “Hate Speech and Bias Incident” policy to expose and eradicate injustice and inequity in our public schools. During his service, the district saw some of its smallest class sizes and achieved its highest graduation rate on record.

Ben is an established voice in Oregon’s public sector. Previously, he worked for former State Rep. Margaret Doherty, who represented Tigard in the legislature for over a decade. Ben was a staffer for former Majority Leader and current Congresswoman, Val Hoyle. He has experience working for the Oregon Department of Education. He currently works for the Gladstone School District.

Since joining the House of Representatives as one of the chamber’s youngest members, Ben has tackled a variety of policy issues from education to healthcare to transportation policy. In 2023, one of Ben’s top priorities was making Hall Boulevard safe, walkable, and accessible for the Tigard community. He secured $3 million to get the ball rolling on long overdue improvements to Hall Boulevard’s transportation infrastructure.

Ben knows investing in younger Oregonians ensures our state’s future and is why he fought to secure funding for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, a program that works to put books in the hands of more children in Oregon, from birth to age five. Ben worked with Rep. Jason Kropf (D-Bend) to invest $144.3 million to support evidence-based, culturally responsive literacy strategies and was appointed to serve on the Early Literacy Educator Preparation Council.

Ben is known for working across the aisle to solve challenges facing Oregonians across the state. He’s consistently looked beyond partisan differences to seek a bigger understanding and builds relationships with members that have other political viewpoints, demonstrated by the years that he co-hosted a political podcast in Oregon called OR Bridge with Republican staffer and operative, Reagan Knopp.

Ben was elected by his colleagues to be House Majority Leader in March of 2024 to lead the Democratic Caucus with the same hard work, determination, and integrity he has brought to every facet of his work.

He lives in Tigard with his partner Juan, and their dogs, Oso and Ruby. You’ll often see them walking the trails in Cook Park.​​​