Gary Leif (November 27, 1956 – July 22, 2021) was an American politician and businessman serving as a Republican 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 ...

. He represented the 2nd district.

Early life and education

Leif was raised in

Douglas County, Oregon Douglas County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 111,201. The county seat is Roseburg. The county is named after Stephen A. Douglas, an American politician who supported Orego ...

. He attended

Umpqua Community College Umpqua Community College (UCC) is a public community college near Roseburg, Oregon. The college has sixteen campus buildings located on bordering the North Umpqua River. The campus also features a track, tennis courts, and an outdoor pool. In 2 ...

; the Brooks Institute for Photography; and the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

, but did not earn a degree.

Career

For over four decades, Leif owned a photography studio in Roseburg. He was elected to the Douglas County Commission in 2016. Following the resignation of Representative

Dallas Heard Dallas Heard (born 1985) is an American politician. He currently serves as a Republican member of the Oregon Senate. Heard had previously served as a member of the Oregon House of Representatives from District 2 from 2015 until 2018. Heard serve ...

who was appointed to take a seat in the

Oregon Senate The Oregon State Senate is the upper house of the statewide legislature for the US state of Oregon. Along with the lower chamber Oregon House of Representatives it makes up the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 30 members of the state Sena ...

, Leif was appointed to the state House of Representatives on April 30, 2018, and sworn in on May 9, 2018. He had previously announced his bid for the seat in March 2018. On December 11, 2020, Leif and 11 other state Republican officials signed a letter requesting

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 ...

Ellen Rosenblum Ellen F. Rosenblum (born January 6, 1951) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the Oregon Attorney General since 2012. She is the first female state attorney general in Oregon's history, and previously was a judge on the Oregon ...

join Texas and other states contesting the results of the

2020 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 January: **C ...

in ''

Texas v. Pennsylvania ''Texas v. Pennsylvania'', 592 U.S. ___ (2020), was a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the administration of the 2020 presidential election in certain states, in which Joe Biden defeated incumbent Donald Trump. Fil ...

''. Rosenblum announced she had filed on behalf of the defense, and against Texas, the day prior.

Political positions

Leif was

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...

. He opposed

sanctuary cities Sanctuary city (; ) refers to municipal jurisdictions, typically in North America, that limit their cooperation with the national government's effort to enforce immigration law. Leaders of sanctuary cities say they want to reduce fear of deport ...

and favored sending

Oregon National Guard The Oregon Military Department is an agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon, which oversees the armed forces of the state of Oregon. Under the authority and direction of the governor as commander-in-chief, the agency is responsib ...

troops to the

Mexico–United States border The Mexico–United States border ( es, frontera Estados Unidos–México) is an international border separating Mexico and the United States, extending from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border traver ...

. Leif advocated for Eastern Oregon to be incorporated as a part of

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

. Leif joined other Douglas County politicians in opposition to the local group, ''Citizens Against Tyranny,'' although his predecessor, Heard, had co-founded the group. Heard said the group's posting of a list of names of whistleblowers who had complained about the failure of local businesses to abide by restrictions that had been imposed by Oregon Governor Kate Brown to help control the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic in 2010, should not have been publicized.

Death

Leif formerly resided in

Winston, Oregon Winston is a city in Douglas County, Oregon, United States, located 7 miles southwest of Roseburg. The population was 5,379 according to the 2010 United States Census. It is home to Wildlife Safari. History In 1920, Oregon Route 99 was comple ...

. He died of cancer on July 22, 2021.

References

External links

Campaign website

Legislative website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leif, Gary 1956 births 2021 deaths 21st-century American politicians Businesspeople from Oregon Republican Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives Politicians from Roseburg, Oregon