A Shared Vision For a Brighter Future

As a teacher and a mother, Courtney is focused on the future. She knows firsthand the importance of a strong public education, affordable housing, accessible healthcare, and environmental stewardship. Courtney is working to create a safer, healthier Oregon full of opportunity for the next generation.

As our Representative in House District 26, Courtney has a proven record of delivering on her campaign promises. Throughout the pandemic, she has exemplified compassionate, collaborative, responsive, and stable leadership. She knows there is work to do to make our state safer, more equitable, more sustainable, and more promising for all Oregonians.

In her first two terms she has already helped secure:

• Caps on insulin costs and established the Prescription Drug Affordability Board
• Unprecedented investments in pre-K through 12, higher education and workforce development
• More mental healthcare and behavioral supports for students and communities
• Healthcare for nearly all low-income Oregonians and Paid Family & Medical Leave
• Responsible Gun Safety policies and violence-prevention investments
• Funding to increase the number of Court Appointed Special Advocates for children navigating foster care
• Investments in prevention and response to homelessness
• Comprehensive reproductive healthcare access for all Oregonians
• High quality childcare for more low-income families
• Strong environmental protections including bans on fracking and offshore drilling
• State Funding for local projects including: the Sherwood Pedestrian Bridge, the Wilsonville I-5 Bridge upgrade study, transit-oriented workforce housing, Just Compassion Homeless Shelter, Wilsonville Community Sharing, and broadband infrastructure throughout the district.

In Salem, Courtney serves as Vice-Chair of the House Education Committee, Courtney is ready to ensure that our students and educators have what they need to succeed. She is ready to focus on accessibility and affordability for post secondary and higher education. As a member of the Early Childhood committee, she has fought for quality affordable childcare for working families. With Courtney’s comprehensive vision of education from cradle to career and her unwavering commitment to investing in education, Oregon students and families can feel confident that our schools, students, and families, have a brighter future.

Courtney’s priority is listening to the people of her district and standing up for them in Salem. Hearing from her constituents and advocating for their needs is central to the work she does. She meets with constituents regularly, holds constituent coffee events, town halls, and weekly office hours, in order to hear from those she represents. We can count on her to continue to stand up for investments, policies, protections, and opportunities for her communities and constituents to thrive.

Courtney serves as the Chair of the House Education Committee and is a member of the Gambling Regulations Committee, Early Childhood and Human Services Committees. Her interests are many and she has previously served on the Joint Natural Resources Budget Committee, House Veterans and Emergency Preparedness Committee, and House Housing Committee.

Courtney’s Story

Growing up in Tigard, Courtney was inspired by her parents and teachers, who modeled compassion and encouraged her to stand up for what’s right. She feels deeply connected to the people, places, and stories that make House District 26 so special. She has seen this district grow and change over her lifetime. The farm where she picked blueberries as a child in the 1980s, the field where she picked dahlias for bouquets in 2004, and the hayride that she and her kids took to the pumpkin patch in the 2010s are all now at the edge of the Urban Growth Boundary and will someday be slated for development. She knows this region deserves thoughtful and responsive leadership to protect its natural beauty and offer smart planning as it changes.

Courtney attended Tigard Schools, graduated from the University of Oregon with a French degree and Pacific University with a Masters in Teaching. After student-teaching in our Yamhill-Carlton and Tigard-Tualatin School Districts, she taught French and Spanish at Tualatin High School, Reading and Special Education in Milton-Freewater, and ultimately returned to her alma mater Tigard High School to teach world languages once again.

Courtney is raising her two children in Wilsonville. They are grateful for the amazing educators and the beautiful landscapes and neighborhoods that they call home. Witnessing the impacts of decades of disinvestment in our schools and the need for improved school safety policies motivated Courtney to step away from the classroom and run for the Oregon Legislature in 2018. In her first term she helped pass the Student Success Act, bringing millions of dollars of new funding to schools in her communities. She continues to champion education and young people in our state capitol.

In March of 2020, Courtney visited her favorite King City constituent (her Grandma Rue) one last time in the hospital before the facilities were locked down to reduce COVID-19 spread. She gave her grandmother ice chips, held her hand and tucked her in before kissing her on the forehead and going home. The nurses and hospice caregivers who cared for her grandmother through lonely pandemic days, and who let Courtney visit her grandmother through an open window that April, bolstered her commitment to continue serving in the legislature in order to ensure that our most vulnerable workers have access to worker protections and that our seniors have the reassurance that they will have access to similar compassionate end-of-life care that her grandmother received.

When COVID shut down schools and businesses, Courtney held steady as a nurturing leader and working mother, ensuring that her legislative office did all it could to advocate for constituents while she and her kids navigated the challenges of virtual learning along with all other Oregon families. She has been unwavering in advocating for safety measures that could keep our schools and economy operating to the greatest extent possible during the pandemic and is grateful for the safety protocols and investments that have allowed us to return to in-person learning.