Maxine Dexter (born December 5, 1972) is an American physician and politician serving as a 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 ...

. She was appointed in June 2020 after the death of

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 ...

. She represents the 33rd district, which covers the Northwest District and Northwest Heights of

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, as well as Cedar Mill, Oak Hills, and most of

Bethany Bethany ( grc-gre, Βηθανία,Murphy-O'Connor, 2008, p152/ref> Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܥܢܝܐ ''Bēṯ ʿAnyā'') or what is locally known as Al-Eizariya or al-Azariya ( ar, العيزرية, " laceof Lazarus"), is a Palestinian town in the West B ...

Early life and education

Dexter grew up in

Bothell, Washington Bothell () is a city in King and Snohomish counties in the U.S. state of Washington. It is part of the Seattle metropolitan area, situated near the northeast end of Lake Washington. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 48,161 resident ...

. She received her bachelor's degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and

communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...

from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

, and her MD from that university's

School of Medicine A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, MB ...

Career

Dexter served her medical residency in

Aurora, Colorado Aurora (, ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, Arapahoe, Adams County, Colorado, Adams, and Douglas County, Colorado, Douglas List of counties in Colorado, ...

, and moved to Portland with her husband in 2008. She works as a

pulmonologist Pulmonology (, , from Latin ''pulmō, -ōnis'' "lung" and the Greek suffix "study of"), pneumology (, built on Greek πνεύμων "lung") or pneumonology () is a medical specialty that deals with diseases involving the respiratory tract.

with

Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente (; KP), commonly known simply as Kaiser, is an American integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield. Kaiser P ...

in Hillsboro. Dexter said she was inspired to run for office following the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation hearing, during which

Christine Blasey Ford Christine Margaret Blasey Ford ( ; born November 1966) is an American professor of psychology at Palo Alto University and a research psychologist at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She specializes in designing statistical models f ...

accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault. She won the Democratic primary to succeed Greenlick on May 17, 2020 with 40% of the vote, defeating three other candidates, including

Christina Stephenson Christina Erin Stephenson is an American attorney and politician from Oregon. She currently serves as the Oregon Commissioner of Labor. She previously ran as a Democrat for a seat in the Oregon House of Representatives. Early life and career Ste ...

. Greenlick died on May 15, so Dexter was appointed to finish out his term a month later. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Dexter treated patients with the disease, and wrote a letter urging Governor

Kate Brown Katherine Brown (born June 21, 1960) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 38th governor of Oregon since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, she served three terms as the state representative from the 13th district of the ...

to close Oregon schools in April 2020.

Political positions

Dexter supports the transition to a

single-payer health care Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are covered by a single public system (hence "single-payer"). Single-payer systems may contract for healthcare services from p ...

system. She also supports greater protections for workers, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increased money for

public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

, and stricter

gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians. Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with on ...

References

External links

Campaign website

Legislative website

Medical website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dexter, Maxine 1972 births Living people Democratic Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives American pulmonologists Physicians from Portland, Oregon Politicians from Portland, Oregon 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians Women state legislators in Oregon University of Washington alumni University of Washington School of Medicine alumni People from Bothell, Washington