Oregon at a Glance State Profile - Gov. Kitzhaber (D) - Sen. Wyden (D) - Sen. Smith (R) Presidential Politics Congressional Districting - 01 - Wu (D) - 02 - Walden (R) - 03 - Blumenauer (D) - 04 - DeFazio (D) - 05 - Hooley (D) Almanac 2002 Home States & Districts Elected Officials For district profiles and additional information on the elected officials of Oregon, please use the pull-down menu above.

Eugene is nestled in the southernmost bit of lowland at the end of Oregon's Willamette Valley, surrounded by mountains on three sides. It is a farming center, a lumber metropolis and, most notably, a leafy university town. Settlers first arrived here in 1846, farming in the valley and cutting timber in the hills. In 1876, the University of Oregon was established, a symbol of Oregon's strong Yankee cultural ethic and sparse settlement; its first graduating class had just five students. Thousands of miles from most Americans, Eugene and next-door Springfield, once a lumber town and now with computer chip factories, have grown steadily into the comfortable middle-sized towns in which many Americans would like to live. Eugene has bicycle paths along the river banks and on main streets and likes to bill itself as the Running Capital of the Universe; it is where Phil Knight and his former University of Oregon track coach, Bill Bowerman, started Nike--the first soles formed on a waffle iron. But there is also tragedy here. Springfield was the place where in May 1998 a 15-year-old, after killing his parents, opened fire in a school, killing two students and injuring 22 others--for "no reason," he later said with an apology, as he was sentenced to life in prison.

Beyond Eugene and Springfield, southwestern Oregon is surrounded by green-clad mountains and for years cut more timber than any other place in the country. But demand for wood is volatile, dependent on the vagaries of interest rates; East Asia increasingly wants unprocessed logs rather than milled lumber, which means fewer jobs for Oregon. The early 1980s, when recession reduced the demand for housing, were tough on southern Oregon; the late 1980s, when cutting of old-growth forests was banned to protect the endangered spotted owl, were even worse. In between, many big lumber companies switched their major operations to the pinelands of the Southeastern U.S., while sawmills ran short of work because of log exports to the Far East. In the early 1990s, it seemed federal restrictions on logging would destroy the area's economy. But, since then, an otherwise robust local economy and active job retraining have resulted in local job gains and far less unemployment than forecast.

The 4th Congressional District of Oregon includes Eugene and Springfield and surrounding Lane County; it goes south to include Roseburg in Douglas County, once perhaps the premier logging county in the United States; it extends north to Albany and part of Corvallis, home of Oregon State University; and includes the entire southern half of Oregon's stunning Pacific coastline, whose craggy seastacks and surging whitecaps were stained by oil as the cargo ship New Carissa was wrecked in Coos Bay in February 1999 and later washed up 60 miles north. Eugene is now heavily Democratic, and so is Corvallis. Roseburg and Albany tend to be Republican, but the overall balance here is toward the cultural left.

The congressman from the 4th District is Peter DeFazio, a Democrat first elected in 1986. He grew up in Massachusetts, came to Oregon for graduate school, and in 1977 went to work for 4th District Congressman Jim Weaver; in 1982, he moved to Springfield and won a seat on the county commission. When Weaver retired in 1986, DeFazio won the House seat in a three-way race. DeFazio has compiled a record that seems to satisfy both Eugene and the rest of the district--liberal on most issues, moderate or even conservative on some. An original founder of the loose-knit Progressive Caucus, he made the case that millions of Americans were suffering during the Clinton administration's booming prosperity. He has opposed NAFTA, GATT and fast-track authority and strongly criticized the Mexican financial bailout; he wants to require congressional approval for international loans over $250 million. During the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle, he spent the week marching with coalitions from organized labor and environmental activists. He criticized the WTO as a "corporate bill of rights." When the protests moved a few months later to the IMF meeting in Washington, he blamed international financiers for economic and social ills in developing nations. A leader of the fight against permanent trade relations with China, he said that supporters were "a lot of well-intentioned people … who think it means their salvation, and actually what it means is their destruction." He sought unsuccessfully to stop the export of oil from Alaska until the President determines that the United States no longer has a crude oil shortage.

He offered a bill, with interesting support from right and left, to allow patients greater access to alternative medical treatments and, with Republican Jack Metcalf, vigorously opposed Agriculture Department regulations on organic foods for failing to adequately protect consumers; they also sought to create special labels for genetically engineered food. He has been a harsh critic of airlines and their broken promises to consumers; a pet cause has been his advocacy of poor treatment of dogs and cats during flights. He also attacked the lack of regulations for cruise ships. Within 72 hours after the Springfield shooting, DeFazio introduced nine bills aimed at school violence, including a 72-hour hold for juveniles who bring guns to school, mandatory trigger locks, background checks of buyers at gun shows and identification of troubled dropouts. Also at home, he has advocated long-term planning to resolve conflicts in national forests; he won approval of annual federal payments to counties with tax-exempt forest lands. After the 2000 election deadlock, he and Republican Jim Leach proposed a broad study of federal election procedures, including the "historical rationale" for the Electoral College. "If Boeing built airplanes like we conduct elections, no one would ever get on an airplane again," he said.

DeFazio has won re-election by impressive margins in a district which before him was often marginal. After Senator Bob Packwood resigned in 1995, DeFazio ran to succeed him. He had far less money than Portland Congressman Ron Wyden, whom he attacked for receiving money from Packwood contributors; in an ad, DeFazio made the best of this: ''[DeFazio's] '63 Dodge tells the lobbyists and special interests he's not for sale.'' His opposition to gun control, NAFTA and GATT provided clear contrasts with Wyden. He ran strongly in the 4th District and the two counties just to the south, leading Wyden 72%-22% there. But Wyden ran ahead 61%-32% in the rest of the state, for a 50%-44% victory, and went on to win the seat in January. Since then, he has called for public financing of campaigns. His support from progressive activists could be the base for a campaign for governor in 2002, he said.

Cook's Call:
Probably Safe. Though the 4th District is more marginal than the two Portland-based districts (Bush won here by 5% in 2000), DeFazio has had little trouble winning by large margins since his first re-election campaign in 1988. This district was the slowest growing in the state and will need to pick up about 50,000 people in redistricting. DeFazio has a good hold on the seat and will be tough to defeat. Once it opens up, however (DeFazio has been mentioned as a potential gubernatorial candidate), it is likely to be heavily contested.

The People:

• Pop. 2000: 633,335; Pop. 1990: 568,395, up 11.4% 1990-2000.
• 91.9% White, 0.5% Black, 1.4% Asian, 1.4% Amer. Indian, 0.2% Hawaiian, 3% Two+ races, 1.6% Other. 4.2% Hispanic origin.

2000 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 145,722 (49%) Gore (D) 129,779 (44%) Nader (Green) 16,265 (5%)

1996 Presidential Vote Clinton (D) 122,392 (45%) Dole (R) 108,780 (40%) Perot (I) 26,826 (10%)