EMILYs List Congratulates Janelle Bynum on Her Election to Oregon’s 5th Congressional District
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, congratulates state Rep. Janelle Bynum on her election to Oregon’s 5th Congressional District. EMILYs List President Jessica Mackler released the following statement:
“EMILYs List is excited to congratulate state Rep. Janelle Bynum on her historic election to Oregon’s 5th Congressional District. This pro-choice champion is dedicated to protecting reproductive rights, addressing housing affordability, and we know she will fight for Oregonians in Congress after flipping this critical seat. We look forward to watching her restore our reproductive freedoms and work on behalf of all Oregonians.”
Today’s election will make Bynum the first Black person to represent Oregon in the U.S. House of Representatives.
State Rep. Janelle Bynum is currently serving her fourth term representing Oregon’s state House District 39. She is the only Black woman in the Oregon state Legislature, where she has been instrumental in passing legislation that invests in mental health care, expands youth voter engagement, and supports women of color in the workplace. State Rep. Bynum also serves as a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee and a chairwoman of the House Committee on Small Business/Economic Development, where she sponsored a historic new law to bring semiconductor manufacturers to the state. State Rep. Bynum, the daughter of teachers and a mother of four, lives with her husband in Happy Valley, Oregon. She runs four restaurants and provides mentorship and educational scholarships to employees. State Rep. Bynum was endorsed by EMILYs List in 2018 and 2020 for her state legislative races.
The EMILYs List community also raised more than $240,000 for Janelle Bynum this cycle.
EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, works to elect Democratic pro-choice women up and down the ballot and across the country with a goal of fighting for our rights and our communities. Our work is centered around a fundamental vision: Run. Win. Change the World. EMILYs List has raised $850 million in service to that vision and has helped Democratic women win competitive elections by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running one of the largest independent expenditure operations for Democrats, and turning out women voters to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country’s first woman as vice president, 175 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 20 governors, and over 1,500 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. Visit www.emilyslist.org for more information.
