In his eighth term in Congress, Rep. Earl Blumenauer is growing weary. Blumenauer has been in office for most of his adult life. “The frustration is real,” said the 62-year-old Democrat. “It is hard, it is unpleasant.”
Blumenauer has been in office for most of his adult life. He was elected to the state House when he was 23 and went on to serve on the Multnomah County Commission and the Portland City Council before winning a special election to replace Ron Wyden in the U.S. House after Wyden was elected to the Senate. “The frustration is real,” said the 62-year-old Democrat. “It is hard, it is unpleasant.”
But he faces a re-election campaign every two years and is consistently fundraising, meeting with community groups and keeping a campaign apparatus together. He told the AP that it gets old having to begin a new campaign as soon as one ends.
He’s weary of partisanship in Congress, and of refighting battles he thought had already been won.
“This has been the hardest period I’ve ever been involved with,” he told The Associated Press this past week. “This is a different climate.”
Read more in today’s Bend Bulletin.
