Brad Avakian

Avakian ran for the Oregon State Senate in 1998,^[4] losing to incumbent Republican Tom Hartung.^[5]

Avakian was elected to represent District 34, on Portland's west side, in the Oregon House of Representatives in 2002.^[6] He defeated Portland police officer John Scruggs,^[7] the only Republican to lose in Washington County that year,^[6] with 53 percent of the vote.^[8]

Avakian was elected to the Oregon State Senate, representing District 17, in 2006.

While in the legislature, Avakian was honored by both the Oregon AFL-CIO and the SEIU Local 503 for his work on behalf of working families.^[3] In the state Senate he chaired the Environment and Natural Resources Committee, and in 2007 the OLCV named him the "Consensus Builder of the Year," recognizing him for passing an extension of the Oregon Bottle Bill and a renewable energy act.^[3] In 2008 he led a coalition to approve water supply development for rural communities.^[3]

In July 2007, Avakian announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for Oregon Secretary of State.^[9] He later withdrew from the race when he was appointed by governor Ted Kulongoski to be Commissioner of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries in early 2008 after Dan Gardner announced his resignation.^[1] Gardner was the first Commissioner of Labor and Industries to leave mid-term for a new job.^[1]

In April 2011, Avakian announced that he would seek the Democratic nomination for Oregon's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.^[10] The seat was held by fellow Democrat David Wu, who resigned from Congress before the end of his term due to allegations of sexual misconduct.^[11] Avakian lost in the Democratic primary to Suzanne Bonamici, who succeeded him in both the Oregon House and Senate.

In July 2015, Avakian ordered Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa in Gresham, to pay a lesbian couple $135,000 in damages for unlawful discrimination in public accommodations after the bakery refusing to make a cake for the couple's wedding. The owners cited their Christian beliefs against same-sex marriage.^[12][13] The Kleins' appealed in the Oregon Court of Appeals, but the ruling was upheld.^[14] However, the Supreme Court vacated this ruling and sent it back to the Court of Appeals of Oregon to rule in a manner consistent with the case Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.^{[citation needed]}

On November 8, 2016, Avakian lost his bid for Oregon Secretary of State to Republican Dennis Richardson, the first time a Republican was elected to statewide office in Oregon since 2002.^[15]

Avakian announced in July 2017 he would not seek reelection to a third full term.^[16]

2004 Oregon State Representative, 34th district^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Brad Avakian	17,835	96.6
	Write-in		635	3.4
Total votes			18,470	100%

Oregon State Senate 17th District Democratic Primary Election, 2006 [citation needed]
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
Democratic	Brad Avakian	7,180	63.12
Democratic	Sam Chase	4,171	36.67
Democratic	Write-ins	24	0.21

2006 Oregon State Senator, 17th district^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Brad Avakian	31,612	67.2
	Republican	Piotr Kuklinski	13,497	28.7
	Libertarian	Richard Whitehead	1,445	3.1
	Constitution	John R. Pivarnik	371	0.8
	Write-in		89	0.2
Total votes			47,014	100%

2008 Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Nonpartisan	Brad Avakian	690,000	67.2
	Nonpartisan	Pavel Goberman	184,919	18.0
	Nonpartisan	Mark Welyczko	135,666	13.2
	Write-in		16,056	1.6
Total votes			1,026,641	100%

Oregon 1st Congressional District Special Democratic Primary Election, 2011 [citation needed]
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
Democratic	Suzanne Bonamici	49,721	65.18
Democratic	Brad Avakian	16,963	22.24
Democratic	Brad Witt	6,003	7.87
Democratic	Dan Strite	1,212	1.59
Democratic	Dominic Hammon	923	1.21
Democratic	Todd Lee Ritter	651	0.85
Democratic	Write-ins	469	0.61
Democratic	Saba Ahmed	250	0.33
Democratic	Robert Lettin	91	0.12

2012 Oregon Commissioner of Labor election^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Nonpartisan	Brad Avakian	681,987	52.5
	Nonpartisan	Bruce Starr	606,735	46.7
	Write-in		9,616	0.7
Total votes			1,298,338	100%

2016 Oregon Secretary of State election^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dennis Richardson	892,669	47.4
	Democratic	Brad Avakian	814,089	43.2
	Independent	Paul Damian Wells	64,956	3.4
	Pacific Green	Alan Zundel	47,576	2.5
	Libertarian	Sharon L Durbin	46,975	2.5
	Constitution	Michael Marsh	15,269	0.8
	Write-in		2,646	0.1
Total votes			1,884,180	100%

• Brad Avakian campaign web site
• Voters' Pamphlet 2006 statement, page 28

Political offices
Preceded by Dan Gardner	Labor Commissioner of Oregon 2008–2019	Succeeded by Val Hoyle