Democratic U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer is increasingly confident that he made the correct decision as he gets ready to leave Congress after a five-decade political career.
The 76-year-old Portland native has never been a particularly ostentatious or well-known politician, but he is well-known in his home state and in Washington, D.C., for his attention on livability concerns and his bow tie and colorful bike button. In his final floor speech earlier this month, he acknowledged that while urging incoming members of Congress to find ways to collaborate, emphasizing the new bike lanes and a visa program he worked on.
“I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished, and my goal as a member of Congress was to leave this place a little better than I found it,” he said. These are items that you won’t see on MSNBC or Fox news. It won’t spread like wildfire on the internet. However, they are straightforward, commonsense attempts to unite individuals in order to address issues.
Since former Representative Peter DeFazio retired in 2023, Blumenauer has served as the dean and oldest member of Oregon’s congressional delegation. He told the Capital Chronicle that he “just sort of fell into politics.” He had the opportunity to spearhead Oregon’s push to lower the voting age to 19 while he was a junior at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, where he was studying political science.
Although the campaign was unsuccessful, states adopted the 26th Amendment a year later, bringing the national voting age down to 18. Additionally, it provided Blumenauer with the chance to speak before a U.S. Senate committee for the first time and meet with people throughout Oregon.
“I had a great time,” he stated. I had the impression that we were working on a significant project, and it naturally led to my service in the Legislature, which I have continued to do ever since. There was no plan.
At the age of 24, he was elected for the first time in 1972 to serve as Portland’s representative in the Legislature. He served on the Multnomah County Commission from 1979 to 1986, remained in the Legislature until 1979, and then campaigned for Congress in 1996 after serving on the Portland City Council from 1987 to 1996.
Blumenauer only lost two elections in his decades in politics: one for mayor of Portland in 1992 and another for the Portland City Council in 1981.
A different perspective from the previous year
Blumenauer stated last year that he was confident Democrats would retake the House and that it was more difficult for him to step away since he knew he could be chairman of a subcommittee of the Ways & Means Committee, which writes the budget.
However, Democrats lost. Republicans will begin 2025 with former President Donald Trump back in the White House, a three-seat Senate majority, and a five-seat U.S. House majority.
When asked what had changed from 2023 to 2024, Blumenauer joked that they had forgotten to be reelected. He went on to say that Republicans won because of a general amnesia regarding Trump’s first term.
Blumenauer stated, “People don’t remember how bad he left the country when he was no longer president.” They overlook our issues, the high unemployment rate, and the inflation rate. Due to incompetent response, the pandemic claimed more lives. Everyone has completely forgotten about that.
Although he stated that Biden was the most successful president during Blumenauer’s years in Washington, he still stands by his July decision to call for Biden to resign. Blumenauer claimed that Biden just lacked the time and energy to complete all of his campaign and presidential duties.
Blumenauer stated, “I think it’s important in politics to know when it’s time to move on.” Last October, I felt like I had done everything I could and that I could be more effective if I left Congress. I’m glad I made that decision. Since there is so much that has to be done, I believe that President Biden’s resignation was crucial.
None of Oregon’s congressional representatives have experience during a Trump administration, with the exception of Democratic Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Democratic Representative Suzanne Bonamici, who will succeed Blumenauer as dean of Oregon’s congressional delegation. The only Republican still in the delegation, Rep. Cliff Bentz, was elected in 2020; Democrats Val Hoyle and Andrea Salinas were elected in 2022; and Blumenauer’s replacement in November will be Democrats Janelle Bynum and Maxine Dexter, a former state legislator.
Put bipartisanship first.
Blumenauer stated that he is recommending that his colleagues in Oregon and elsewhere concentrate on subjects that have the backing of both parties.
By concentrating on issues that are important, I have had success with Republican administrations and Republicans in Congress when we were in the minority, he remarked. What we have accomplished in the areas of health care, transportation, animal welfare, and rebuilding and revitalizing America is not particularly partisan. Instead of dividing people, they bring them together.
However, he also claimed he has no regrets about leaving Congress because it has grown more dysfunctional and political. According to him, things began to go south just before he got to D.C., when Republican Newt Gingrich was elected speaker of the House in 1995. Gingrich urged Republicans to quit being kind and shortened the congressional workweek from five days to three, sending politicians home to campaign and raise money in their districts rather than mingling with coworkers.
Blumenauer claimed that social media exacerbated the trend, causing lawmakers like Republicans Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene to concentrate only on garnering attention. According to him, the more egregious their actions, the more they receive political support and campaign donations in unequal districts.
According to him, there is a significant distinction in the extent to which social media and weaponizing the process have taken over. Many of these individuals have no policy-related staff members. I find it terrible that politics and public relations are the main focus.
In his final weeks in office, Blumenauer has been finishing off initiatives, drafting exit notes, and locating other members of Congress who would continue to support his causes. In addition to finding politicians to support money for public broadcasting and initiatives to open banking to marijuana-related firms, he is working to expedite the distribution of federal cash for infrastructure, such as Portland’s 82nd Avenue transit project.
He expressed his excitement about moving on to a new professor position at Portland State University’s Institute for Metropolitan Studies and about not having to spend 14 hours a week in airports or on flights.
Blumenauer stated, “Every time I turn around, another group is giving me a lifetime achievement award. We’ve taken our projects and handed them off to other people.” I couldn’t feel better about my decision after deciding in October of last year that it simply wasn’t worth it to spend another two years of my life trying to get elected to a dysfunctional Congress, and things only got stranger.
— Oregon Capital Chronicle’s Julia Shumway
Established in 2021, The Oregon Capital Chronicle is a nonprofit news outlet that specializes in Oregon politics, government, and policy.
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