Portland Rep. Maxine Dexter’s House swap: Resigns from Oregon Legislature, seeks seat in U.S. Congress

Published 12:00 pm Wednesday, July 31, 2024

In her hunt for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, state Rep. Maxine Dexter of Portland has announced she’ll resign from the Oregon Legislature.

“After much consideration, I have decided to resign from my position,” Dexter announced Wednesday, July 31. “With the next Legislative session beginning in January, I want to provide as much of an onramp as I can for the next representative of House District 33, and allow them to hire staff, prepare their bills, and be ready to hit the ground running on Jan. 21.”

Dexter is the heir presumptive for the seat held by Congressman Earl Blumenauer. At age 75, Blumenauer is retiring after 28 years representing Oregon’s Congressional District 3. Dexter will face Republican Joanna Harbour of Estacada in November, but the seat has such a large percentage of Democratic voters, Dexter is the odds-on favorite.

The district registration edge goes to Democrats, 44.6% to 13.6% — 29.5% of voters have no party affiliation — and Republican Harbour lost twice to Blumenauer, who won with 72% in 2020, and after the district was redrawn, 70% in 2022.

The last time a Republican held CD 3 was in 1954.

Dexter, 52, is a physician at Kaiser Permanente and two-term Oregon House member first elected in 2020 from District 33 in Northwest Portland. She took office after she won a four-way Democratic primary to succeed Mitch Greenlick, a 17-year veteran who died a few days before the primary. She led the House Committee on Housing and Homelessness for two years until the close of the 2024 session.

District 33 represents downtown Portland and portions of North and Northwest Portland.

In the Legislature, Dexter also served as the chair of the Interim House Committee on COVID-19 Response in 2021; and chair of the House Committee on Health Care Subcommittee on COVID-19 in 2021.

Before the May primary race for the congressional seat, Dexter proved to be a fundraising powerhouse, easily outraising her Democratic rivals.