Maxine Dexter on running for District 3, top issues, what’s going right

KOIN 6 News contacted candidates who are running for Oregon’s Third Congressional District in 2024, asking them to respond to these four questions:

• Why are you running for office?

• What is your prior government/civic experience?

• In your opinion, what are the top three issues facing the Third District and the state of Oregon?

• In your opinion, what is going right in the Third District and Oregon? How do you plan to build on it?

Maxine Dexter is running as a Democrat. Here are her responses:

Why are you running for office?

I’m running for Congress to bring my unique blend of personal experience and professional expertise to Washington, D.C. where I will continue to do what I do best – listening, leading, and getting things done for the people of Oregon. I have been a practicing pulmonary and critical care physician, caring for patients in CD3 for more than 15 years.

I became an Oregon state representative for the city of Portland after winning a competitive 4-way primary in 2020. I saw quickly how I was able to make a significant impact on the health and wellbeing of the people of Oregon through policy-making and leadership from this position.

I have proven myself to be a strong lawmaker who listens, leads and gets hard things done, all the while keeping my constituents at the center of my decisions – the same way I do when caring for my patients.

Now, I am ready to care for my community with the potential to make an even bigger impact on their health and wellbeing as a lawmaker in Congress. I grew up in a working class family here in the Pacific Northwest. No one, on either side of my family, to this day, has ever graduated from college except for me.

I likely wouldn’t have either, but for my 5th grade teacher, Mr. McLeod, who must have seen something in me as he explained to me what college was (I had never heard of it) and helped me believe I would be a doctor one day.

My home was not a happy one; my mother struggled with mental illness and anger and it created tremendous turmoil for my brother and I. At 16 I got a union job in an Albertson’s grocery store. The job gave me a good wage, full benefits, and stability.

I left home and worked my way through the rest of high school, then college and into medical school with that job and the community I found with it. In the clinic I take care of people who can’t breathe well due to problems like asthma, COPD and lung cancer.

In the hospital, I take care of the sickest people, those on life support. I take care of my patients with compassion and dedication, just like I’ll take care of our community if elected to be your congressperson.

My top priorities are:

• Universal, affordable, high-quality healthcare, including abortion

• Bold climate action – as a mother, it is imperative we leave a livable world for future generations

• Finally, I will fight for opportunity for all

I was only able to get where I am today because I had a union job with benefits, good reproductive healthcare, affordable housing and affordable higher education. That stability is no longer a reality for working families and I will fight tirelessly to get it back.

What is your prior government and/or civic experience?

I have a broad perspective in civic and government experience here in CD3 due to the overlapping reality of being a mother, a physician, an organizer and an elected state representative. I have a long history of leaning in and helping my community achieve important goals.

As a mother to children in the Portland Public Schools in CD3 from 2009 until now I have been impactfully engaged as a parent leader and community organizer, especially during their elementary years.

I worked with other parents, students and staff over that time to advocate for a wide variety of changes including increased school funding, universal evaluation of young elementary students to identify aptitude and educational needs, universal free lunch, more school-based health centers and quality field space for our athletes.

As a physician and mother I have been very active in working to prevent gun violence in our community. I have been a Moms Demand Action volunteer, in 2018-2019 I advocated for the establishment of and served on the Kaiser Permanente Task Force on Firearm Injury Prevention and served with the Oregon Medical Association policy committee to advocate for data-driven policies to increase gun violence prevention.

I have been an Oregon State Representative for House District 33 since June of 2020 and have been privileged to serve the people of Portland and parts of Washington County throughout that time.

I have been able to bring my real world experience with people at some of the toughest times of their lives to policymaking by leading with my progressive values and meeting people where they’re at. In 2023, serving as Chair of the Housing and Homelessness Committee, I led the passage of a $200 million housing package in the first 90 days of session and passed an expansive opioid harm reduction omnibus package that has dramatically improved our community’s access to life-saving Narcan.

I have also helped secure safe staffing for hospital workers, invested in community-based housing for agricultural workers and college students, expanded protections for reproductive healthcare and the providers of that care in Oregon, and have worked to help our state meet our climate goals of reducing emission by 90% by 2050.

My committee appointments follow: Chair – House Committee on Housing and Homelessness (2023 – Present) Chair – House Committee on COVID-19 Response (2022) Chair – House Committee on Health Care Subcommittee on COVID-19 (2021) Ranking Member – House Committee on Behavioral Health and Health Care (2020 – Present) House Committee on Judiciary (2020 – 2022) House Committee on Judiciary Subcommittee on Equitable Policing (2021) House Committee on Emergency Management, General Government, and Veterans (2023 – Present) Joint Committee on Transportation Special Subcommittee on Transportation Planning (2023 – Present)

In your opinion, what are the top three issues facing District 3 and the state of Oregon?

• Housing and Homelessness

• Access to safe and affordable universal healthcare

• Climate action and justice

The most pressing issue facing District 3 and our state is the lack of safe and affordable housing for all which has led to the homelessness and housing crisis we are facing. As a doctor, I listen to and treat everyone who comes through my door, even if they don’t have a stable place to live.

I feel the urgency of this crisis deeply, which is why I worked as Chair of the Housing and Homelessness Committee to pass a bipartisan $200 million dollar package to make a historic investment in fighting this crisis.

We were able to win rental assistance, rehousing programs for those who are homeless, eviction prevention, significantly more shelter beds and other investments.

We are continuing this work right now in the 2024 session to eventually assure every Oregonian can afford to live in a safe home in the community of their choice. This cannot be separated from healthcare as housing is indeed healthcare.

Too many Oregonians are struggling to access or afford healthcare, and that affects all other aspects of our lives. We [need] to rapidly expand youth and adult access to behavioral healthcare to help tackle and prevent our mental health and addiction crises.

We also need to actively work to ensure the rights people have to abortion and full-spectrum reproductive healthcare in Oregon is not diminished – people must have control of their economic future by deciding when and if they want to have children.

Reproductive healthcare is under attack nationwide and I’ve worked to provide support to local providers to meet the needs of women coming to us from other states. I’ve also worked to protect abortion in Oregon in statute. This work needs to be expanded nationwide. Finally, we need climate justice.

We are already seeing the impacts of climate events such as the heat dome event in 2021 that took the lives of 72 of our most vulnerable neighbors in Multnomah County, many of whom were in my district. As a lung doctor, I see the health effects of wildfire smoke, pollution and other climate events in my patients, especially those from marginalized communities.

I have been working to mitigate the impacts of climate change on our most vulnerable by protecting people who work outside in the heat, protecting people from extreme heat in their homes.

I have also supported the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s work to implement a Climate Protection Program to reduce our emissions by 90% by 2050. There is so much work to be done on climate. Oregon has good ideas when it comes to climate, but this is not an issue we can face alone.

We need leadership and results at the national level to secure the future of our state and our planet.

In your opinion, what is going right in District 3 and Oregon? How do you plan to build on it?

I am inspired by the hope Oregonians continue to hold, despite the challenges facing our community, we continue to show up with joy for each other. I want Oregonians to know that in Congress, my priority will always be to represent and show up for them just like they show up for their neighbors and community.

This means bringing Congress to them with easily accessible staff based in the district, helping constituents engage with their government, and frequent town halls and listening sessions. Historically in Oregon we’ve had an approach to bipartisanship called the “Oregon Way” which is based on listening to each other, building trust and relationships, collaborating, focusing on similarities instead of differences, and coming together to deliver for Oregonians.

My work in the legislature reflects this approach and I’ve been able to get more done for more people across our state through a bipartisan approach to policy making. We do have our differences, many of which have trickled down from national politics, but I am hopeful that the Oregon Way will continue to guide our approach here at home.

On the national level, it’s a different story. Our government has done bold, remarkable things in the past and we must lean into that historical precedent and demand more of ourselves and our government again to help people and local governments do what they cannot do for themselves. I will be an inspired, optimistic, tirelessly-working public servant for the people of CD3 and will bring the Oregon Way to Congress.

We need to change the culture in Washington. Government must serve the people more effectively.

I will keep my constituents at the center of all I do, just as I do every day as a physician and as I have as a lawmaker. Americans deserve a government that functions and does great things again. I will go to Washington, leading with my progressive values and work tirelessly for the change we all need and deserve.

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