William David Witt (born December 12, 1951) is an American politician. He served two terms in 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 ...

from 1999 until 2003, and was twice the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

nominee for

Oregon's 1st congressional district Oregon's 1st congressional district is a congressional district located in the U.S state of Oregon. The district stretches from Portland's western suburbs and exurbs, to parts of the Oregon coast. The district includes the principal cities of ...

Early life

Witt was born in 1951 in

Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County, Ohio, Mahoning County. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of ...

. He received his

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

in 1973 and his J.D. from the

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dist ...

in 1976. After moving to Oregon, Witt established Wittco Systems Incorporated in 1979. He and his wife, Gail, have two children. He is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Political career

Witt helped establish the Oregon Christian Coalition, a Christian conservative organization, in 1992. He also worked on

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

's re-election campaign and co-chaired the Oregon delegation to the

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...

in both

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

and

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

. Witt entered electoral politics in 1994. He won the Republican primary for Oregon's 1st congressional district that year with 51% of the vote and took on one-term incumbent

Elizabeth Furse Elizabeth Furse (October 13, 1936 – April 18, 2021) was a Kenya Colony-born American small business owner and former faculty member of Portland State University. She was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 1999 ...

in the general election. He was backed by the

Oregon Citizens Alliance The Oregon Citizens Alliance (OCA) was a conservative Christian political activist organization, founded by Lon Mabon in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was founded in 1986 as a vehicle to challenge then–U.S. Senator Bob Packwood in the Republican p ...

. While Furse was initially seen as an underdog, Witt's right-wing views and connection to the OCA made the race heavily competitive, and he lost by 0.12% in a year which saw Republicans gain 54 seats in the House, despite carrying every county in the district besides Multnomah. Witt sought a rematch against Furse in

, but lost by a wider margin, 52% to 45%. In 1998, Witt ran for the

. He defeated

Chuck Carpenter Charles Scott Carpenter (born January 31, 1962) is an American politician. He served in the Oregon House of Representatives from 1995 until 1999, and was the first openly gay Republican elected to any state legislature in the United States. Earl ...

, the first openly gay Republican elected to any state legislature in the country, by 46 votes in the Republican primary. His only opponent in the general election was

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

candidate David W. Gillette, whom he defeated with 74% of the vote. In 2000, Witt faced a tight reelection bid against Democrat

Mitch Greenlick Merwyn Ronald "Mitch" Greenlick (March 12, 1935 – May 15, 2020) was a Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Oregon. He represented District 33 of the Oregon House of Representatives. Early life and career Greenlick was born in 19 ...

but prevailed by a 1.6% margin. Witt did not run for reelection in 2002 and instead opted to run for the

State Senate A state legislature in the United States is the legislative body of any of the 50 U.S. states. The formal name varies from state to state. In 27 states, the legislature is simply called the ''Legislature'' or the ''State Legislature'', whil ...

in the 17th district. He faced Democrat Charlie Ringo, a fellow state representative, and lost the general election by nearly 10 points. Greenlick succeeded him in the House.

Political positions

Witt has been described as "ultra-conservative". During his 1996 congressional campaign, Witt indicated he supported a

balanced budget A balanced budget (particularly that of a government) is a budget in which revenues are equal to expenditures. Thus, neither a budget deficit nor a budget surplus exists (the accounts "balance"). More generally, it is a budget that has no budge ...

and reduced spending on Medicare. He opposed both

partial-birth abortion Intact dilation and extraction (D&X, IDX, or intact D&E) is a surgical procedure that removes an intact fetus from the uterus. The procedure is used both after miscarriages and for abortions in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. In U ...

and the

Brady Bill The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act ( Pub.L. 103–159, 107 Stat. 1536, enacted November 30, 1993), often referred to as the Brady Act or the Brady Bill, is an Act of the United States Congress that mandated federal background checks on ...

but supported the

Don't Ask, Don't Tell "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) was the official United States policy on military service of non-heterosexual people, instituted during the Clinton administration. The policy was issued under Department of Defense Directive 1304.26 on December ...

policy. He supported U.S. involvement during the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...

as well as the

North American Free Trade Agreement The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA ; es, Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte, TLCAN; french: Accord de libre-échange nord-américain, ALÉNA) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that crea ...

. Witt backed both the

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) is a United States federal law passed by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The bill implemented major changes to ...

and the

Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) is a United States labor law requiring covered employers to provide employees with job-protected, unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons. The FMLA was a major part of President Bill C ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Witt, Bill 20th-century American politicians 21st-century American politicians 1951 births Living people Catholics from Oregon Case Western Reserve University alumni Republican Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives People from Washington County, Oregon Politicians from Youngstown, Ohio University of Chicago Law School alumni