The congressman from the 4th District is Peter DeFazio (da-FAH-zee-oh), a Democrat first elected in 1986. The Republican takeover of the House has returned him to a position he held during the GOP’s earlier stint in the majority, as a demonstrative critic of conservative ideas he disdains. Read More

The congressman from the 4th District is Peter DeFazio (da-FAH-zee-oh), a Democrat first elected in 1986. The Republican takeover of the House has returned him to a position he held during the GOP’s earlier stint in the majority, as a demonstrative critic of conservative ideas he disdains.

He grew up in Massachusetts, came to Oregon for graduate school, was a bike mechanic, and went to work for 4th District Rep. Jim Weaver, a Democrat. In 1982, DeFazio moved to Springfield and won a seat on the county commission. When Weaver retired in 1986, DeFazio won his House seat in a tight race. He beat Bill Bradbury 34%-33% in the primary and won the general election 54%-46%. DeFazio has compiled a record that seems to satisfy both Eugene and the rest of the district: He’s liberal on most issues, and moderate on social issues. An original founder of the loose-knit Progressive Caucus, he has not been shy to express his anger that millions of working Americans suffered during the boom years before 2008. He opposed the Clinton-era North American Free Trade Agreement and later was a leader in the fight to defeat normal trade relations with China.

DeFazio often takes idiosyncratic views. He introduced a bill in 2011 allowing people to opt out of the health care law’s individual mandate reviled by Republicans—but only if they waived the right to any government-backed medical help for at least three years. He voted against climate legislation in 2009 putting caps on carbon emissions because he said there were better ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as a carbon tax. And he introduced a bill calling for a tax on large stock and derivative transactions that drew predictable enmity from Wall Street and business-minded Democrats. He took the lead in the House effort to permit airline pilots to carry guns in the cockpit, and although the Bush administration opposed it, DeFazio won by an astonishing 250-175. The Senate later followed suit.

When Democrats won control of the House in 2006, DeFazio took the influential post of chairman of Transportation and Infrastructure’s Highways and Transit Subcommittee. He called for taxing oil companies, rather than imposing a gas tax on consumers, after high gas prices prompted people to drive less, with a resulting falloff in revenues in the highway trust fund. He was the only member of Congress to oppose the final 2009 economic stimulus bill after backing the original House version, saying it did not sufficiently boost transportation spending. When the newly GOP-dominated committee passed a bill in March 2011 to eliminate the requirement for a Clean Water Act permit for some pesticides, he dismissed it as nothing but “great talking points” because environmentalists’ ardent opposition would prevent it from becoming law.

Until 2010, DeFazio routinely won re-election by more than 60% in a marginal district. Against former FBI agent Jim Feldkamp, who favored more local control of forests and spent a total of $1 million in back-to-back challenges in 2004 and 2006, DeFazio got 61% and 62%, respectively.

After GOP Sen. Bob Packwood resigned in 1995, DeFazio ran to succeed him. His opposition to gun control and NAFTA provided clear contrasts to Democratic Rep. Ron Wyden, but the better-funded Wyden won the primary 50%-44% and went on to prevail in the general election. In 2002, DeFazio considered running again for the Senate, this time against Republican Gordon Smith, but declined. In 2010, the opponent in his re-election bid was Republican chemist Art Robinson, who got a boost from outside interest groups’ ads tying DeFazio to liberal House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. DeFazio won 54%-44%, his poorest showing since his first race.