Rep. Peter DeFazio (D) Elected 1986, 10th term
Born:	May 27, 1947, Needham, MA
Home:	Springfield
Education:	Tufts U., B.A. 1969, U. of OR, M.S. 1977
Religion:	Catholic
Marital Status:	married (Myrnie)
Elected  Office:	Lane Cnty. Bd. of Commissioners, 1982-86.
Military Career:	Air Force, 1967-71.
Professional Career:	Dist. Dir., U.S. Rep. James Weaver, 1977-82.
DC Office	2134 RHOB20515, 202-225-6416; Fax: 202-225-0032; Web site: www.defazio.house.gov
State Offices	Coos Bay, 541-269-2609; Eugene, 541-465-6732; Roseburg, 541-440-3523.
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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 into comfortable middle-sized towns. Eugene has bicycle paths along the riverbanks 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. Now the third-largest city in Oregon (behind Portland and Salem) and one of the most livable in the nation, it offers the ambience of a small town and the counter-culture without the isolation, and its liberal voters have been vital to Democrats statewide.

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 1980s were tough on this region: recession reduced the demand for housing, and cutting of old-growth forests was banned to protect the spotted owl. Fears grew that federal restrictions on logging would destroy the area's economy. But even as the lumber industry languished, a robust local economy and active job retraining resulted in local job gains in the 1990s. Recent development has been diverse, including health care, tourism and retirement communities for California transplants. But Timber Country, including forest product businesses, continues to struggle.

The 4th Congressional District of Oregon includes Eugene and Springfield and surrounding Lane County; it goes south on Interstate 5 to include Roseburg in Douglas County, once one of the premier logging counties in the United States. It extends north to Albany and includes most of Corvallis, but not Oregon State University. It includes the entire southern half of Oregon's stunning Pacific coastline; the decline of commercial fishing has hit this area hard. Eugene is now heavily Democratic. Roseburg and Albany and their surrounding counties vote heavily Republican, leaving a clash of left and right in the district. The travails of the logging industry moved the area to the right: the 4th District (with only slightly different boundaries) voted 54%-44% against George H. W. Bush in 1988, but in 2000 it voted 49%-44% for George W. Bush. In 2004, however, the 4th narrowly went for John Kerry, one of just two districts in the nation to flip from Bush to Kerry.

The congressman from the 4th District is Peter DeFazio (pronounced da-FAH-zee-oh), a Democrat first elected in 1986. He grew up in Massachusetts, came to Oregon for graduate school, and 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 tight race. He beat Bill Bradbury (the 2002 Democratic nominee for senator) by a 34%-33% margin and won the general election 54%-46%. 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 social issues. 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 opposed NAFTA, GATT and trade promotion authority. A leader of the fight against normal 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." Since the election of George W. Bush, DeFazio's populist criticism has grown more outspoken, and is sometimes directed at his own party.

DeFazio often takes idiosyncratic views. 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. Unlike most Democrats, he has offered a specific proposal to fix Social Security: Remove the payroll deduction limitation that benefits the top wage earners. He took the lead in the House with his amendment to permit airline pilots to carry guns in the cockpit. The Bush administration opposed this, and the Senate had avoided the issue. But DeFazio won by an astonishing 250-175; the Senate a few weeks later followed suit and Bush went along. After the catastrophic wildfires in summer 2002, DeFazio teamed with Republican colleague Greg Walden to seek a middle ground to speed the thinning of brush in the forests. DeFazio's environmental allies denounced him as a turncoat. The bipartisan effort collapsed in committee in 2002, but produced legislation that passed the House in May 2003 and ultimately became law. As the senior Democrat on the Aviation Subcommittee of Transportation and Infrastructure in 2003, he criticized poor oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration and he called for a more active role by Congress to stabilize the industry. In 2005, DeFazio moved up to the ranking Democrat on the Highways Subcommittee, where he is positioned to play a major part in the transportation reauthorization the 108th Congress failed to pass. He voted against the authorization of force in Iraq and criticized the Bush administration's lack of a strategy after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

DeFazio has won re-election by impressive margins in a district which before 1986 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. His opposition to gun control, NAFTA and GATT provided clear contrasts with Wyden. But Wyden won a 50%-44% victory in the primary, and went on to win the seat. Since then, DeFazio has called for public financing of campaigns. In the 2002 cycle, DeFazio considered running for the Senate against Gordon Smith. But he said he would run only with the "strongest possible support" from Democratic leaders. The DSCC sent a message: No big money until DeFazio raised lots himself and rose in the polls. So he decided to remain in the House. In 2004, DeFazio beat former FBI agent Jim Feldkamp 61%-38%, his smallest margin since he was first elected, but still an impressive majority in a district only narrowly carried by John Kerry. Feldkamp said that he would run again. Should DeFazio not run, this might well be a seriously contested seat.

Committees

• Homeland Security (6th of 15 D): Economic Security, Infrastructure Protection & Cybersecurity.
• Resources (5th of 22 D): Forests & Forest Health.
• Transportation & Infrastructure (3d of 34 D): Aviation; Highways, Transit & Pipelines (RMM); Railroads.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	95	75	100	100	20	13	43	16	11	16	--
2003	100	--	100	85	--	29	14	21	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	92%	--	0%		75%	--	24%
Social	69%	--	31%		62%	--	38%
Foreign	89%	--	8%		65%	--	35%
For National Journal's complete 2004 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 108th Congress (More Info)
1. Drilling in ANWR N 2. Approve Bush Tax Cuts N 3. Medicare/Rx Bill N 4. Bar Overtime Pay Regs. Y 5. DC School Vouchers N 6. Ban Human Cloning *		7. Restrict Gun Liability Y  8. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion N  9. Ban Same-Sex Marriage N 10. Fund Iraq War N 11. Bar Cuba Embargo Funds Y 12. Intelligence Reorg. Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Peter DeFazio (D)	228,611	61%	$909,241
	Jim Feldkamp (R)	140,882	38%	$591,318
	Other	5,416	1%
2004 primary	Peter DeFazio (D)	unopposed
2002 general	Peter DeFazio (D)	168,150	64%	$286,417
	Liz VanLeeuwen (R)	90,523	34%	$150,482
	Other	4,808	2%
Prior winning percentages: 2000 (68%); 1998 (70%); 1996 (66%); 1994 (67%); 1992 (71%); 1990 (86%); 1988 (72%); 1986 (54%)

2004 Presidential Vote Kerry (D) 188,479 (49%) Bush (R) 187,292 (49%)

2000 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 156,362 (49%) Gore (D) 142,123 (44%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Fourth District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: D + 0
• District Size: 18,034 square miles
• Population in 2000: 684,280; 69.2% urban; 30.8% rural
• Median Household Income: $35,796; 13.7% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 26.3% blue collar; 55.2% white collar; 18.5% gray collar; 16.9% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 89.7% White, 0.5% Black, 1.5% Asian, 1.2% Amer. Indian, 0.1% Hawaiian, 2.5% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 4.2% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 14.7% German, 10.1% English, 8.8% Irish
• Click here for statewide demographic data.