Democratic voters in Southeast Portland will choose between a retired public health nurse and administrator and a young public defender for an open seat in the Oregon House in the May 21 primary.
No Republican filed for the District 46 seat, which Democrat Khanh Pham is vacating after two terms to run unopposed for the open seat in Senate District 23. Democrat Michael Dembrow is retiring after 16 years as a legislator, more than half of them in the Senate.
As of April, registered Democrats led Republicans in the district, 49.6% to 7.8%. Voters not affiliated with any party accounted for 36.4%. Among the neighborhoods: Mount Tabor, Foster-Powell and Brentwood-Darlington.
Mary Lou Hennrich and Willy Chotzen said in statements to Pamplin Media Group that they will not be limited by their work experiences in dealing with legislative issues.
Mary Lou Hennrich
Hennrich is a former executive director of the Oregon Public Health Institute and a co-founder of Care Oregon, which with more than 500,000 members is now the largest service provider under the Oregon Health Plan for low-income people. Her campaign motto is: “Mary Lou Gets Results.”
“I believe I bring the skills and experience to ‘gets results’ not only in health and health care, but also in other current issues facing us — education, housing, transportation, equity, climate and many other social determinants of health,” she said. “I have been and will continue to be doggedly determined to improve our social infrastructure to make our society more equitable.”
She sits on the board of Health Care for All Oregon, and she looks forward to the recommendations due in 2026 of a state board whose aim is to institute universal health care statewide.
She spent her early years as a public health and school nurse, then rose through the ranks to become deputy director of the Multnomah County Health Department before she helped establish Care Oregon from 1994 to 2003.
Willy Chotzen
Chotzen has been at Metropolitan Public Defender, which serves Multnomah and Washington counties, since 2020. He has been a chief attorney for two years, supervising its misdemeanor unit and about 15 lawyers.
From 2013 to 2016, before he went to law school at Harvard University, Chotzen was a math teacher in Oakland, Calif.
Chotzen said that in his current job, he sees urgent issues beyond representation of criminal defendants, though lawmakers in recent sessions have had to deal with a lawyer shortage that has forced the release of some people. Among the issues, he said, are homelessness and access to addiction and mental health services.
“A healthy, housed, connected, and educated community is also a safe and thriving one,” he said. “Achieving racial and economic justice in Oregon will take a coordinated movement at every level of government. But given my areas of expertise as a public defender and former public school teacher, I believe I bring a voice that is missing from the Legislature and will be most effective at contributing to solutions at the state level.”
Their campaign money
Chotzen has raised and spent far more than Hennrich in their campaign, by about 2 to 1. Both candidates started raising money last year after Pham announced she would not seek re-election.
As of April 30, Chotzen had raised more than $100,000 and spent $110,000, according to the Oregon Elections Division. Among his top givers were Nan Fox, a self-employed artist in St. Louis, Mo., $25,000; Council 75 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, $20,000; Democrats for Educational Equity, based in New York, $8,000; Oregon Trial Lawyers Association PAC, $5,000, and Portland Association of Teachers, $4,000.
Hennrich received $15,000 from the Oregon Nurses PAC, $4,500 (in-kind) from Gal Pal Productions, $3,000 from Portland Alliance PAC (now the Portland Metro Chamber of Commerce), $2,500 from FamilyCare Inc. and $2,000 from the Public Health PAC. She had raised $47,000 this year and spent $45,000.
Coalition building
Both say they will use their backgrounds and skills to build coalitions that will achieve their priorities.
Hennrich cited as her examples bringing together Multnomah County and Portland Public Schools for the first school-based health clinic at Roosevelt High School in 1985, and Multnomah County, Oregon Health & Science University, and a statewide network of community and migrant health clinics for the formation of Care Oregon in the 1990s.
As director of the Oregon Public Health Institute, she added, “I have many examples of using my communication and negotiating skills to get important/controversial legislation passed: Nutrition standards for all foods and beverages sold in Oregon schools, physical education requirements (by minutes each week) for K-8 public schools, chain restaurant menu labeling — to name a few.”
Chotzen said:
“I am consistently able to find common ground by focusing on shared values and goals, by fostering authentic relationships, and by listening to learn. I am consistently able to find common ground by focusing on shared values and goals, by fostering authentic relationships, and by listening to learn.
“As a public defender, I am frequently told by my clients that they have never had a stronger advocate, and yet I maintain consistently great relationships with judges, prosecutors, law enforcement, and all other stakeholders in the criminal legal system.
“As a legislator, I will bring this same ability to build bridges and foster cooperation to work with members of both parties in pursuit of real results that help all Oregonians and uplift struggling communities.”
pwong@pamplinmedia.com
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