Benjamin 'Ben' Unger (born March 4, 1976, in Cornelius, Oregon) is an American politician and a Democratic member of the

Oregon House of Representatives The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 65,000. The House meets in the west wing of the ...

representing District 29 from 2013 to 2015. He stands at over 6'7".

Early life

Unger was born on March 4, 1976, in Cornelius, Oregon, and was raised on a farm south of the city. After graduating from Hillsboro High School in 1994, Unger earned his BA degree in English from the University of Oregon. Prior to entering politics, he worked as a special assistant to the

Oregon Attorney General The Oregon Attorney General is a statutory office within the executive branch of the state of Oregon, and serves as the chief legal officer of the state, heading its Department of Justice with its six operating divisions. The attorney general is ch ...

Political career

In 2012, Unger won the District 29 Democratic Primary with 65.2% of the vote against Katie Riley. He won the November 6 General election with 11,312 votes (53.5%) against Republican nominee

Katie Eyre Katie Eyre Brewer is an American politician and accountant in Oregon. She was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives in November 2010 for House District 29, succeeding Democratic Representative Chuck Riley. She lost to Ben Unger in the 2 ...

. Unger was endorsed by a local newspaper, the Forest Grove News Times, and many other groups such as the Oregon Council of Police Associations, the Oregon State Council of Retired Citizens, and the

Oregon League of Conservation Voters The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) is an American environmental advocacy group. LCV says that it "advocates for sound environmental laws and policies, holds elected officials accountable for their votes and actions, and elects pro-environmen ...

. During his run against Eyre, he was portrayed as a

carpetbagger In the history of the United States, carpetbagger is a largely historical term used by Southerners to describe opportunistic Northerners who came to the Southern states after the American Civil War, who were perceived to be exploiting the lo ...

for moving back to the district from Portland to run for the seat. The Forest Grove News Times ran an article pointing out inaccuracies in those attacks, and referenced them as one of the reasons they chose to endorse Unger. Unger, who grew up on his families' Century Farm, emphasized supporting local schools in his campaign. In 2014, he announced he would not run for re-election, and in June 2014 became the executive director of lobby group Our Oregon, where he served until 2018. Unger was succeeded by former

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

councilor

Susan McLain Susan McLain is an American politician. A Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, she currently serves as a member of the Oregon House of Representatives from District 29, representing Cornelius, Oregon, Cornelius, Forest Grove, Oregon, Fore ...

, also a Democrat.

Electoral history

References

External links

Official page
at the

Oregon Legislative Assembly The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the Ho ...

* * 1976 births Living people Democratic Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives Politicians from Hillsboro, Oregon University of Oregon alumni Hillsboro High School (Oregon) alumni 21st-century American legislators People from Cornelius, Oregon {{Oregon-politician-stub