The congressman from the 3rd District is Earl Blumenauer, who won a special election in May 1996 to replace Ron Wyden, elected to the Senate that year. He is best known for his role as Congress’ point person on “smart growth” planning strategies that combat urban sprawl and promote alternatives to driving. He is also known for his fondness for bow ties. Read More

The congressman from the 3rd District is Earl Blumenauer, who won a special election in May 1996 to replace Ron Wyden, elected to the Senate that year. He is best known for his role as Congress’ point person on “smart growth” planning strategies that combat urban sprawl and promote alternatives to driving. He is also known for his fondness for bow ties.

Blumenauer grew up in Portland, and graduated from Lewis and Clark College and its Northwestern Law School. He was inspired by the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s, while in his teens. In 1969 in college, he headed a statewide campaign to lower Oregon’s voting age. He has held public office almost all of his adult life. In 1972, at age 23, he was elected to the Oregon House; in 1978, he was elected to the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners. In 1986, he was elected to the Portland City Council. He championed many of the policies that have made Portland distinctive—regional light-rail transit, curbside recycling, and aggressive land-use planning. He encouraged bicycle riding and “regional rail summits,” which bring neighborhood residents into the planning for higher densities at transit nodes. Blumenauer has had some setbacks, notably when he lost the 1992 mayoral race. But he was the obvious successor to Wyden and won the special election 68%-25%. His campaign slogan was “Vote Earl, Vote Often.” He has never drawn less than 67% of the vote in any election since.

In the House, Blumenauer is the most liberal member of the Oregon delegation. To promote biking as an alternative to driving, he rides his bicycle everywhere he travels around Washington from his Capitol Hill apartment. He formed a Congressional Bike Caucus that boasts over 100 members and fought for showers for bike commuters at the Capitol. Blumenauer was astonished to find that the House subsidized parking for employees, but not mass transit; now, employees can get subsidized transit fares. He is interested in what seem like quixotic projects now but may seem less so in time: an interstate highway system for bicycle paths and less dependence on driving as a tool to improve public health. “The rise of bicycles is a metaphor for change in this country,” Blumenauer says. And the sometimes nerdy policy wonk has grown an audience for his gospel of livability and civic values, including the Obama administration, which has embraced some of his livability concepts. However, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has dismissed his ideas as “central planning.” The Internet-savvy Blumenauer sets his BlackBerry to notify him when he is mentioned in a blog posting, and he responds on a regular basis.

On economic issues, he has actively promoted trade across the Pacific, a key element of Portland’s economy. He supported normal trade relations with China, but he joined most House Democrats in opposing the Central America Free Trade Agreement. With Republican Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona, he has railed against wasteful government spending. When Democrats assumed the majority in 2007, Blumenauer bolstered his influence with a seat on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee and became a more active lawmaker. He gave the panel a new focus on the environment and urban planning, including his call for tax subsidies for bicycle commuting which were included in the Troubled Asset Relief Program law of 2008. He also promoted a national pilot program to examine alternative ways to tax road use.

He chairs the Congressional Public Broadcasting Caucus and was an outspoken critic of a Republican proposal to de-fund National Public Radio in 2011, citing polls showing strong public support for maintaining the status quo. During the earlier health care debate, he promoted legislation to allow doctors to charge Medicare for end-of-life consultations, a proposal that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin famously charged would lead to “death panels.”

He seriously considered running for mayor of Portland in 2004 and surprised some local Democrats when he decided against it. Blumenauer also declined to run for the Senate in 2008 and for governor in 2010.