Portland State Magazine

ALUMNI ON THE OREGON BALLOT

by Jennifer Ladwig

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During his senior year, Bylenga “realized that no Democrats had much motive to run in my rural hometown of Pendleton, Oregon, so I decided that I would.” On running for ofice: “Do it if you are committed. There is much behind the scenes that you don’t see,” Castles says. “Get involved with a campaign and ask questions.” “My time at PSU taught me that you don’t have to just be an urban or rural Oregonian,” Cribbens says. “Oregon is one place, and we need to work together to make our state work for all of us.” “I had been a Portland police oficer before returning to school,” Gorsek says. “Not only did PSU provide me the knowledge to go on and be an efective leader in local and state politics, it reinforced the importance of evidence-based information and critical thinking.” “I think Oregonians and Portlanders who value our future need to think about PSU as the center of the future, not as an afterthought,” says Iannarone. Professors and mentors encouraged León to work for change. But, she says, “Higher education is still out of reach for so many Oregonians. One of the main reasons I ran for ofice was to work toward a future where the choice to continue an education is not limited by socio- economic status.” “When you run for ofice as part of a community or movement, you’ll never be alone as a leader,” says Pham. “This is a challenging time, but we need courageous leaders who are deeply rooted in community.” Knowing a state representative “got me interested in government issues at a young age, but scoring a PSU political science class with Marko Haggard—someone I watched nightly on television—was also pretty influential on my interest in the political process.”

House of Representatives, District 58

Nolan Bylenga ‘20

D

nolanbylenga.com

House of Representatives, District 38

Patrick Castles MA ‘75

R

patfororegon.com

Melissa (Wilcut) Cribbins ‘94

D

State Senate, District 5

melissacribbins.com

Chris Gorsek PhD ‘04

D

State Senate, District 25*

chrisgorsek.com

Sarah Iannarone ‘05

N

Mayor of Portland

sarah2020.com

House of Representatives, District 22 †

Teresa Alonso León MPA ‘13

D

teresafororegon.com

House of Representatives, District 46

Khanh Pham MUS ‘18

D

khanhphamfororegon.com

Kim Thatcher (former student)

R

Secretary of State ‡

kimthatcher.com

*Current state representative † Incumbent ‡ Current state senator

D = Democrat R = Republican N = Nonpartisan

25

FALL 2020 //