9 GOP Lawmakers Disqualified from Running for Re-Election After Walkout Protesting Abortion
Republican state lawmakers who organized a six-week walkout to impede the progress of pro-abortion legislation will be barred from seeking re-election once their current terms end, the Oregon secretary of state confirmed this week.
In a Tuesday news release, Democratic Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade said she was merely upholding Measure 113, an amendment passed in 2022 stipulating that legislators with over 10 unexcused absences from legislative sessions are ineligible for re-election.
“My decision honors the voters’ intent by enforcing the measure the way it was commonly understood when Oregonians added it to our state constitution,” Griffin-Valade said.
NEW: Sec. of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade makes official her position that lawmakers who walked away this year cannot run in next year’s election, per Measure 113. Expect a lawsuit. #orleg #orpol pic.twitter.com/qDjLZ0Umwb
— Dirk VanderHart (@dirquez) August 8, 2023
The move has caused an uproar among Republicans, with a lawyer for state Sens. Tim Knopp and Brian Boquist writing to Griffin-Valade with a view to challenging the decision.
The letter says the absence of the GOP lawmakers was “a parliamentary strategy to prevent the passage of certain legislative proposals and for reasons they consider existential.”
“This parliamentary strategy has been employed many times in the past by members of both parties and in numerous states.”
The letter argues that such walkouts “involve expressive acts which are protected political speech.”
The Republicans also point out language in Measure 113 that implies that they should still be eligible to participate in the 2024 election.
The amendment specifically disqualifies offending lawmakers from holding office “for the term following the election after the member’s current term is completed.”
Since their terms end on Jan. 14, 2025, the legislators assert that under Measure 113, they would only be ineligible for office following the 2028 election.
Griffin-Valade’s office responded to those claims in the news release.
“The Secretary found no suggestion prior to enactment — in the voters’ pamphlet, media, or otherwise — that the measure was understood or intended to allow absent legislators to serve an additional term after accumulating too many absences, and then be disqualified the term after that.”
The nine Republicans and one independent in question staged their walkout beginning in May to stall the Democratic agenda.
The lawmakers objected to measures promoting abortion, transgender ideology and gun control, according to ABC News.
Their walkout became the longest in Oregon’s history before they secured concessions from Democrats on those issues.
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